01/25/2011

Hey everyone! How are things in the good ol´ U.S. of A.?

In a letter recently received from Aunt Becky, it really hit me that I am living in a foreign country. I am doing things I have never done before, and perhaps will never do again. I eat different food, speak a different language, live a different life, dress a different way, and feel different things. I often feel uncomfortable, scared, inadequate, unworthy, slow-tounged, and imperfect. But those times are outshone by the times I feel comfortable, courageous, clean, creative, and most of all, I feel the Spirit. This mission I am serving is not easy, but it was never meant to be. I feel blessed for all that I am learning, seeing, experiencing, and doing. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve.

This last week has had some ups and downs. Elder Allen´s first night in the area, we had an awesome lesson with a family of 3. They are a mom, Marisa, and her two kids, Sabrina and Jeremias. We both felt the Spirit, and the lesson went great. They were excited to read, and for us to come back on Wednesday, two days later. But on Wednesday, they couldn´t, so we rescheduled for Saturday. That fell through as well. They told us they would call us during the next week, and we were a little worried. On Sunday night, another important appointment didn´t happen, so we decided to just drop by Marisa, Sabrina, and Jere to see how they were doing. We got there, and they we all sitting out front, enjoying the cool evening air. We sat down to talk to them, and it eventually led to their reading. We asked how they had done during the week reading in the Book of Mormon. Marisa and Jere said they were reading, but Sabrina (22 years old) gave us a guilty look. We talked to her and found out why she hadn´t been reading. She said she had read something that she didn´t like, something that scared her, so she stopped reading. We investigated a little and found out she had reached 1 Nephi 4:12, and that was the last verse she read, becuase she didn´t like it. This verse is the one where the Spirit tells Nephi: ´´Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him (Laban) into thy hands;´´ She could not believe the Lord would command one of His children to do such a thing. So, not feeling good, she stopped right there. This was on Wednesday. Because of that, she had kind of been avoiding us during the week. For us, that was hard, becuase the solution, or answer to her problem was literally written in the next verse! We said ´´Sabrina! If only you had read a few words more, this last week wouldn´t have been wasted!´´ We read with her verse 13 ´´Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.´´ Then we re-read the whole chapter helping her see why that had to happen. We testified to her of the goodness of God, and the he doesn´t just go around ordering his children to kill people. When we finished, she had a strong conviction of the Lord´s reason for doing it, and realized that often, He does things we don´t understand, and seem just too hard to accomplish. But like Nephi, she now knows that the Lord always has a reason, and will always provide a way for his commandments to be kept. After, we watched the Restoration video with them, which is what we originally wanted to do, and talked about Joseph Smith and his important role. We left with the Spirit strong, and them with instructions to call us, any time, day or night if they found something like that again. We don´t want Satan to have 4 days to work on our investigators.

My companion, Elder Allen is great. He is definitely the best teacher I have been with so far. He has the Spirit, to start off, and also has so many good examples, stories, games for kids, and ways to teach that are so clear. I find myself just listening to him, enjoying the lesson, and forget that I should be teaching too. We were with one of our investigators, 9-year-old Juan, teaching one day, and he had Juan and his siblings completely entranced in the lesson about the prophets, the foundation of Christ´s church, the great apostasy, and the restoration through Joseph Smith. He was using stories, visual aides, and just teaching amazing. It came to be my turn to teach, and I started explaing how Christ formed a church, but how it was lost from the Earth. I saw their looks starting to fade, and I could tell they weren´t quite getting it. So I looked at E. Allen and said, ´´Do you have an example for this part by chance?´´ He just smiled, nodded his head, and started in again, amost instantly grabbing the attention of Juan and his family. I was thinking what a shame it was that I didn´t have that way with kids, or all the cool games and examples, but then I realized that that is why we are put in companionships. I have an easier time teaching adults, and explaining the details clearly, and he gets the concepts across clearly and simply. So putting our strengths together, we can help even more people. Plus, we can learn things from each other. It´s hard to think what Missionary Work would be like with only one missionary. I imagine the Church would barely grow it all. It is quite impressive what a companionship can accomplish when they are working together, with each other, and with the Lord.

This week I forgot my card, so no pictures, sorry!

I am going to have to agree with Dad. Mom- that letter was cheating! haha

I just found out yesterday about an eyeglass place in my area. Send me that link anyway, and I´ll let you know next week how much it would be to fix mine here.

Thanks for all the news from home, pictures, and everything! I can´t believe how big Ellie is! Her hair is finally long! haha I would love pictures of the new house, people (big people as well as the kids), and anything else you talke pictures of.

I can´t believe Matt and Rob will both be home in the next few months. It seems like they just left!

I love you all, and I will right you next week!

Lots of pictures

My new companion, Elder Allen

There was a storm the other day, so of course we went up on the roof and enjoyed it!

This was consecrated shortly have this picture was taken.

Homemade fried empanadas. An Argentine classic.

Largest cathedral in South America (we go past it every week for district meeting)

Classic pile of Argentine Darbage (dirt-garbage)

The world goes ´round like a merry-go-round. Sometimes you´re up, sometimes you´re down.

We have just had transfers, and sadly, after only one transfer, E. Mortensen has left. He was called to be a Zone Leader in the zone of Quilmes, where I was born. I am sad to see him go, but I know he is going to be an awesome leader. I am now with E. Allen, who was actually in my zone when I got here as well. So this change is not as bad, seeing as I already know my companion. He is from South Jordan, and played wide receiver for Bingam High. (in case you are interested dad, his full name is Jordan Allen, graduated ´09) For those of you who don´t know, Bingham High is basically equivalent to Timpview as far as skill and championships. If that still doesn´t help, they are one of the top 5A Football teams in the state. Or basically, he is really, really good at football. He has almost 16 months in the mission. We were already friends from before, so this will be a fun transfer. I don´t know if it will show in the picture I sent, but he looks ALOT like David Prina. The effect was strengthened when I got here and my first week he had a crick in his neck, so couldn´t turn his head all the way, and squinted with one eye. David, I love you! I will be remembering you a lot this transfer!

This transfer we have a few baptismal dates, and some investigators who are progressing really well! One is going to get married on Feb. 4th, and get baptized on the 5th. His name is Emilio, and his current girlfriend is a member. I am so excited to see them married and him receive the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We have another family who are waiting to get a divorce so they can get married and baptized. Please pray for them. It is really hard to get divorced here. That is, it takes a LONG time. Their names are Gerardo, Gladis, and Lucia.

We had quite a fun week last week, as you can probably see from the pictures. We had good lessons, found cool new investigators, did splits with some Bolivian boys in our ward, played in the rain, helped build Emilio´s house, helped dig out Emilio´s tree that fell in the storm, went to Emilio´s birthday party, and had our final meeting with our zone. It was a good way to end the transfer.

This week we found a guy named Leonel, who is 18 or 19. We talked to his mom first and she told us that he is shy, because he is missing one eye. She said he always wears sun glasses, and never looks people in the eye. She didn´t even look at me as she said it, and I wondered if she didn´t notice my eye. As you can imagine, I had an immediate connection with him. I instantly wanted to help him. Not only with the Gospel, but help him see that someone can live normally with a ´´messed up´´ eye. We started talking, but we didn´t mention his eye, because he wasn´t there when she told us, and didn´t want him to know she had. So we talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He seemed a little interested and we set an appointment to go back. I thought it was so cool that I could find a person that I could help with my experiences. You can´t really see me without noticing my eye, but it doesn´t prevent me from doing the work. I want to show him that it doesn´t have to be a stumbling block for him. I have been praying strongly for him ever since we met. We are going to pass by on Wednesday, and see how he is doing. I am so excited to help him progress.

I want to give a thank you to a few people from whom I have received mail. Marilyn and David, Sunny and Darren, Laura Montes, and all others who have sent me letters and/or packages. It always makes my day when I get them.

Mom, I still haven´t gotten my Christmas package. The elders in the offices told me that when we have interviews with President Stapley (some time this transfer) that I will be able to get it then. Oh well. Also, I will look for a place around here to fix my glasses, and let you know how much it will cost.

Dad, I have a request. I have had to do quite a few repairs on my bike, and the mission only covers for half of the cost. If you could put some money on my card to help out, that would be awesome! Maybe like $40 or $50, just so I can make it to the end of the month. (haha, poor desperate missionary)

Oops! Times up again!

love you all, and will talk to you next week! Thank you for all of your love and prayers. Give all the kids hugs and kisses from Uncle Scoty!

Hey, I spent most of my time uploading pictures and writing President, so this will be more short than usual.

First I will give answers to mom’s questions.

No, I have not fixed my shoes, nor my glasses. I still have the money for the shoes (20 dollars, right?). I just haven’t gotten around to it, and I have learned to live with the hole. When it rains, I just suck it up. And now that I am using a bike, I don’t have to step in puddles or walk through mud anymore. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want the new ones!

Yes, I got the package from Becky. I haven’t gotten the Christmas one from you guys yet, though I expect to get it on Wednesday.

Asunci髇 and her family have gone A.W.O.L. haha. We haven’t been able to talk to them in a while. They are doing well in the lessons, but they haven’t gone to church at all, so we are trying to re-establish contact with them.

I still hear from Sister Montes, and I also get mail from Sister Lee occasionally. It’s actually quite often that I get mail from the both of them.

I will tell you the story about Hernan next week. (I thought I already had, but obviously not.)

I will write a better, longer one next week. The truth is, this week, we had meetings, dentist appointments, and my companion got sick for two days, so we didn’t really do much. Almost all of our investigators are “missing” right now. I read a lot in the Bible. I love it, but like mom said, I miss the Book of Mormon when I am off in the other books. I know they are good, but the Book of Mormon has something special.

I love you all and I am so grateful for your love, support, and prayers.

Until next time...

Above 3... I got a package from Aunt Becky and her family (Thank you so much!) with this stocking. It had these awesome superhero taffys, some cool suckers with bibles on them (I didn’t get a picture of those), and a PEZ dispenser with a bunch of pez. So, just for Sheybe and Summer, I played with my food and made the PEZ logo.... out of PEZ! haha

So, it gets way hot sometimes at night, and we do whatever we can to beat the heat. Elder Mortensen soaks his towel, then puts it in the freezer. Then right before we go to bed, he takes it out and puts it over him to cool him down. But when he unfolds it or drops it when it’s frozen, it breaks and tears a little bit. So one time we opened it up and we say this creepy little face! Yikes! haha.

This is a classic Argentine “Superpancho” that I bought this morning. They always come with little tiny french fries, and then they have ketchup, mustard, mayo, and like 5 other sauces to put on there. This one just has the classic mustard and ketchup. “Pancho” means “frank” (like a ballpark frank). Thus, Grandpa Stobbe’s nickname, Pancho. (At least I think that’s were it comes from)

Above is Elder Mortensen in our pench, or has he calls it, the Tin Can. I am standing up against the back wall, and the right wall is right on the edge of the picture. The bathroom is to my left as I am taking the picture. It’s really the only part of our whole pench you can’t see in this picture. That, and the tiny little “kitchen area”. For reference, I sleep on the top bunk, and I study at the side of the desk closest to me as I'm taking the picture.

The next 3 pictures...

Today we had a zone activity where we had a bunch of little games, and we gained points going along. We had to grab apples with our mouth from the ground and run back and forth, collecting them. Then we had an egg toss, moving back further every time you catch it. Then we had a 3 legged race. Then we had a watermelon eating contest (without using your hands). Then we played soccer, district against district. Everything was done in companionship and you got points based on if you were first, second, or third place. The other places didn't get anything. These pictures are of the Watermelon Eating Contest Winners, me and Elder Mortensen! The first two where we have both just finished, and then with our game winning pieces! (I'm actually not sure those are the actual pieces we ate off of, but it works for the picture.) We actually couldn't finish all the watermelon with our mouths because of the way it was cut, so we had to each use our head on one side of the peice to break it in half, then we finished it. Elder Mortensen almost threw up after, becuase he was laying down, pressing on his stomach. But we won! It was actually a way fun activity. After, we did a white elephant (the activity was supposed to have been on Christmas) and you got to choose first or last based on the points from the games. I ended up winning some Gold Bond. Yay!

Hey everyone!

I feel like it has been forever since I wrote last. I think it was about 3 weeks ago.

The last few weeks have been fun, with Christmas and New Years. This being my first Christmas in the mission field, I realized two things. One, Christmas is a whole lot different when it is 90 degrees outside. And two, from about December 20 through January 2, almost nothing happens as far as progressing in the work. We haven´t been able to work very much because at night on Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, and New Years, we couldn´t leave our pension. It´s too dangerous to be just walking around. People are drunk, or light of fireworks, or both. On New Years here in La Plata there is a tradition where they build these huge Muñecos (dolls) shaped like famous things (I saw Ice Age characters, Plankton from Spongebob, Spongebob, Winne the Pooh, dinosaurs, Santa and his sleigh, Quilmes Beer bottle). They are built with wood and wire frames, then they do a heavy-duty paper-mâché. Then they paint them. The best (or maybe the worst) part is that on New Years at midnight, they BURN THEM ALL! I didn´t get any pictures but if you search on Google you can probably find them. I would search ´´ muñecos la plata ´´

(I couldnt find a good one burning)

Also on New Years, like I described in the picture email, we slept on the roof, and enjoyed the war-zone fireworks. That was fun, but a little scary.

As far as missionary work, we had a wonderful baptismal service for Gabriela on New Years Eve. We went early to get the font ready, and set up all the chairs, and get the refreshments and everything done. The baptism was scheduled for 4:00, and most of the members were there by 4:00 (the ones who were coming). But the most important person, Gabriela, hadn´t arrived. We called her, but got no answer. 4:15, 4:25, 4:35.... nothing. All the members who were returned missionaries started talking about the times on their missions when investigators just didn´t show up for their baptisms, which didn´t help our worrying. But finally, at about 4:45, she got to the church, and after that, it didn´t really matter what time it was. The service was beautiful, the baptism was perfect, and we ended it all eating cookies and drinking soda, like a good ol´ Mormon get-together. We have really been able to see the change in Gabriela´s life as she has learned and applied principles of the Gospel. I know that what we are teaching and preaching is true, and the that this Church is the only true Church on the face of the earth.

Ok, Mom, I just did something bad. My glasses fell on the ground without me noticing it, and I just stood up to loan another missionary my flash drive and stepped on my glasses! They are all bent, and right now, unusable. I will take them to a glasses shop

on Wednesday, when we have to go to another city for a dentist appointment for my companion. I have been faithful in wearing them up until now. I just take them off to use the computer, because it hurts my eye. And that´s what got me. That one hour a week of taking them off. Oh well.

Dad, yes I have my drivers license. Let me know if you need anything with it. It is being kept in a safe in the mission office right now.

Mom, that was a cool story you told me about Whitney and Steve Hughes. The names sound familiar, but I can´t really remember them.

Whitney and Steve, if you are reading this... Hello! When I get home we will have to get together and talk. I feel humbled with what you did with my name. I hope to me Scott and Daniel, too. haha. I hope you are both doing well. Please feel free to write me an email, that would be awesome! My email is written here on the blog, but here it is anyway: scoty.stobbe@myldsmail.net

Hunter, thanks for your email about Christmas! It sounds like you had so much fun. When I get back I will take you sledding one time and we´ll find a HUGE hill to go down, ok? I am glad to hear you gave good presents to your mom and dad too. It always makes you feel way better to give presents than to get them. I have some more Castellano to teach you. To say ´´My name is Hunter´´ you say ´´Yo me llamo Hunter´´ (pronounced SHO MAY SHAHMO) Ask grandpa to help you, he knows Castellano too.

I love everyone, and I will talk to you all next week! I am sure I am missing things but time is up, and I can´t think of anything else.

Stay Strong.

--

Elder Scot Daniel Stobbe Jr

Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission

***DONT MISS THE POST BELOW WITH PICTURES!!!!

Hey, we have two p-days in a row, so I will be writing again on Monday. But I wanted to share some pictures from Christmas and New Years, Baptisms, and a few random other things.

On New Years Eve we took our mattresses up on the roof to watch all the fireworks. For me, it was cooler than the Stadium of Fire, because it was over an hour of non-stop fireworks. And the big kinds too, that explode way up in the air. It sounded like a war-zone, or what I imagine a war-zone would sound like.

Lucas Baptism - This is the guy who got baptized right before I left Planos. He is 15

Lomo Saltado - This is actually Peruvian food, but it’s popular and AMAZING. I will make you all some when I get home. (above and below)

Gabriel with her son, mom, and two friends that introduced her to the Church.

Gabriela Baptism- She is a lady that got baptized on New Years Eve. She has had a hard life, and the Gospel has helped her so much!

Elder Mortensen and Elder Stobbe

Chapel in Los Hornos - Self Explanatory

Book of Mormon Trilogy - Elder Mortensen and I were thinking one day about what book in the Book of Mormon would make the best Hollywood-style movie. We both chose Mosiah. So we named the movie Kings of God, Kings of Men which has to do with King Benjamin and Mosiah(s) who were righteous Kings, and King Noah, who obviously was not. Then we decided to make it a trilogy, with Alma up until the 3 days of darkness being The Reign of the Judges and Christ coming until Moroni hiding the plates is O Ye Fair Ones. It actually ends with Moroni closing the hole, and one little scene from inside the box where Joseph Smith takes of the top, and all you see is his face. And then it ends. So then I used some Graphic Design skills and made these logos. I know it sounds like a waste of time, but it was fun! And we really didn’t waste too much time thinking about it.

--We don’t have the full time today, but I will write a good one on Monday!

I love you!