Sad situation in the ward

Ahhh dont throw my junk away!!!!!! [This in response to telling him we were weeding through his stuff in preparation for our move to Utah]    I like my junk!

I was invited to live with a friend here thats going to UVU but they only needed one more guy in their apt so that would exclude brad so I said no.  Elder Rice said he was probably gunna start school the next semester so im really not sure about who else who would like to room with us. I was also thinking about the dance class and I guess that would be ok. A friend here talked me into it.

But wow talk about a crazy week!  And first of all mom, thanks for that prayer. [Mom woke up one night feeling like Austin was in danger so said a prayer in his behalf]  I think it actually might have been for my comp because he almost got hit by a bus on Tuesday, so thanks for that one. Also happy bday Jackie!  Big 17! woo hoo!!

We baptized  Saturday and I confirmed.  It was awesome stuff, and now for the bad news.

In our ward something very unfortunate happened.  A member that has been seperated from his wife for like 3 weeks was just caught having an afair with another member in the ward. The poor wife is doing really bad so the bishop asked us to visit her every once in a while so thats what we are doing. She told us that shes looking for a psychiatrist because she was suicidal.  We invited her to read the book of mormon and pray a lot. Its been rough because this family used to give us lunch every Thursday so they are both really good friends. We are ok, but its was one of the saddest things Ive ever seen and because the wife caught them in this members house and she just went nuts like anyone would. She said after it happened she waited by the train tracks for 20 mins just waiting for a train to come by so she could jump in front of it. But luckily her brother who isnt a member and lives in Tucuman sent her a txt saying he felt like he needed to talk to her and just told her how much he loved her. So she got a block away and the train passed. Dont hesitate if you feel you should send someone a happy note or a txt.

So ya that was kind of a wet blanket on the week but we are trying to do everything we can.

Also to change the subject-- about telling stories about the mission when i get home....I dont think a time set aside is very nessesary, they can just come as we are doing things like games and stuff. Also my journal isnt exactly filled.  I kinda missed a couple days and when I say a couple I mean a lot. So we'll see how that works out right :) ha sorry.

well love you all
elder schupple

p.s. Oh and have you guys found a house? I want to see pics please :) also we need to start talking about calling info again for Mothers Day :)

Platanos--the place of miracles

 

The Zone

 

Andre and his girlfriend who is getting baptized 1 year after Elder Schupple 

suggested he give her a Book of Mormon
 

Andre is the son of the Stake President 

          

Heriberta's baptism

  

Elder Chavez & Schupple

 
 

Cute kid
 

Elder Connolly, E. Schupple, E. Palmer
 

Elder Connolly & Elder Palmer

Im so glad to hear that everything is going great at home. Thanks a lot for the help with school stuff mom. Do we know where we will live? I dont think living with Elder Jones will be the best thing now.  We talked today and it would be far for both of us if we roomed together so just look for something closer to UVU or something like that. And I dont want to be a Debby Downer or anything like that but I dont really know if I want to do choir either, since I've been here Ive kinda lost my voice from the lack of singing, and its not as fun as it used to be.

As for this fast week, it was pretty good, we took out a bap date with this 40 year old guy that has a problem with worshiping a saint that is only here in Argentina (San gauchito gil) He isnt a saint recognized by the Catholic church or anything like that cuz he really didnt do anything except rob from the poor. So ya we are trying to get him to stop praying to him, so we will see how that goes. As for this upcoming week we should have a decent amount of success.  We have good plans and hopefully we will baptize the husband of Heriberta the lady we baptized 2 weeks ago (the pic that we are both in white). We both had to get into the font again because she has a problem walking and we wanted to make sure she would be ok so ya we both got wet. However, after the baptism and blessing we gave her she has been walking great. Platanos is the place where miracles happen :) or at least where Ive seen the most miracles in my mission. 

Another thing that happened was when we were having our meeting we have with our bishop every wed night he told us that somebody had come up to him in one of the meetings he had and said that the elders he has in Platanos are bad elders. When he told us this I was shocked and rather angry, but before I could say anything he said he defended us and said that he told this person that they were mistaken because his elders are some of the best hes had (this past sunday we had 135 people in sac meeting, a record for our bishop). So ya apparently this person had mistaken us with other elders.  It made us feel really good that the bishop would stand up for us and would say something like that.  The trust with the bishop is something we must have as missionaries yet so often do not have in the mission. So it was good to know that we have his trust. 

Sorry this is gunna be a short one but the pics slowed the computer down so this is all I can write.

Hope everythings going well at home.  Youre all in my prayers.  The church is true.

lvlv

elder schupple

 

P.S. The pics are of the baptism and of Andres and his girlfriend from last weeks story.  I also got to see some old friends today-- Elder Connoly and Palmer. Good times!

P.S.S.. I want to minor in Spanish  if I can do that business and spanish thing that would be way cool.

lvlvl

One of the best weeks of the mission! Andres and the sweet fruits of this labor

The classes you've put together all sound great except the dance class and the Intro to Music.  If the intro to music is required,  ill take it but the dance class doesn't really sound like that much fun to me and I'm guessing thats the fun class for the semester. I don't know... I was thinking maybe a gym class like swimming if there is a class like that, but ya I dont really want to take a dance class if its possible.
I hear you about loving it in the morning with the little girls....I remember when the Sessions were living with us and Ashton would come up to my room every day and wake me up :) ...those were great times.
We had a great week this past week. First of all we had a baptism and zone conference so those were both awesome. I also got to go to Ezpeleta again and I saw a bunch of members that I knew in my first transfer.
  We also had kind of a scary night this past Wed.  We were sound asleep until something woke me up.  I looked at the clock and it was 12:20 at night. Then I realized what it was-- the neighbors. Our neighbors sometimes fight at night but its usually just her yelling at him for 10 mins then it stops.  But this time it was intense.  She was yelling then he started yelling (something I had never heard before... it was scary) then I heard plates start breaking or something breaking, then she yelled some more, then I heard her start screaming, "Don't hit me, dont hit me dont hit me!"   I was scared by this time and thought OK maybe calling the police would be a good idea, so I grabbed the phone and just as I was about to call I saw police lights outside. So I went back to bed. It was kinda crazy.
And now for the good part.  It has been one of the best weeks in the mission. First of all I had to go to Ezpeleta to do an interview for the zone leaders,  so when I got there and I realized that we were going to the stake presidents house (whom I had known very well while I was there, and his 16 year old son, Andres, who was one of the best kids I had met in my mission). So we went in and everyone recognized me and it was a beautiful thing. So after we all said hi and all that jazz I asked who I would be interviewing.   Andres asked if I remembered the time we were on divisions and he told me about his girlfriend who wasn't a member. I told him that of course I remembered and then he added, "You told me to give her a Book of Mormon, so I gave her a book.  Well ...she is the one you will be interviewing for baptism!"    It was definitely one of the coolest experiences of my entire mission in seeing the fruits of this labor  from being in an area on divisions with a youth that was a little inactive, giving him the idea to give his girlfriend a Book of Mormon, then a year later coming back to this area and being able to do the interview that girl for baptism.
  We took a pic of everybody (which ill send later cuz this cyber isnt so great) and said our goodbyes and just as  we were about to go our separate ways Andres took a watch out of his pocket (one that I told him I liked a year ago... kind of a long story) and he said "quiero que tenga eso, gracias por todo"  (I want you to have this, thanks for everything¨)   I cant remember a time when I felt so loved. My joy was so full.  It was a really cool experience.
   Then on Saturday we baptized this old lady named Heriberta and on Sunday she came late but in testimony meeting she bore her testimony.  She told us that she had never ridden a motorcycle before in her life but there werent any taxis that could take her to church and she couldn't walk very well so she got this kid my age to take her on his motorcycle.  Amazing!   It was just an awesome week.
Hope all is well at home.  You're all in my prayers and want you all to know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ.
lvlv
elder schupple

Awesome General Conference/Intro to Elder Chavez

So did you guys find a house to live in in St George? If so i want to see the pics :)

Can you all believe how great conference was?????? President Monson starts out by being hilarious, then Elder Packers talk (probably my favorite talk of the conference) was amazing.  we couldnt go to priesthood session because it started at 9 and finished at 11 at night and thats just not a good idea for missionaries. So we tried to watch the rerun the next morning but it didnt really work and it was in spanish but from what i got out of Pres Uchtdorf's talk was absolutley amazing. I love how they dont have assigned talks yet they all talked about pretty much the same things-- o sea los familias.  It kinda made me feel left out cuz I dont have a family with me right now but it was awesome for our investigators and I took some awesome notes for when I'm back with the fam tho :) It was such a good conference and the the topic of family was just what our investigators needed... and what I needed.

As for my new comp, let me tell you a little about him:  First of all he is 18 years old and the youngest of 3 brothers, his father is the mission president in Concepcion Chile (right where the earthquake/hurricane hit) so ya he is a great companion, but I think  being 18 makes him a little less confident because he is extremly quiet and its like pulling teeth to make conversation, which is a problem I havnt really had in the past. Its kinda funny that now I've had 3 Chilean comps-- one was 25, the other 23 and this one is18.  In other words I've had the oldest and the youngest in the mission.  I didnt really notice the difference before with my other comps when it comes to age but with him a little more. Its probably all in my head and probably just the personality he has--he's just really quiet. It's not a problem tho.  Its a good thing that I can get different experiences in the mission so OI can adapt myself to them so we get along. He is a really good comp and Im very grateful to be with him.

The work is cruisin along.  We should be baptizing this Saturday if all goes well. I hope all is well at home and that everyones doing well.

lvlv

elder schupple