A Volcano, Boredom and Humility

An interesting development on Darren's Mission last week as the Calbuco Volcano in Southern Chile erupted sending significant ash into Argentina.

27 APR 2015

Hey Mom!

So this has been an interesting week.. there was some ash in Neuquen but really it just made everything dusty here haha. We were told to go to the pension early one day and the next day we spent the WHOLE day in the pension. That night was when it erupted again and all the missionaries were told to go now and buy food and water for a week. So we were like wow, it must be really bad now.. so we did that (with my companion´s personal card because we still don't have money on my mission card). The next morning, we got a message from the ZLs saying "thanks for your obedience, you guys can leave now" :P So those were the events for us regarding the volcano haha.

We didn't have too much time to work this week. There has just been a bunch of stuff at once, elections were yesterday so we only had sacrament meeting. We did talk to Nestor though, he is doing REALLY good! A couple of weeks ago Elder McCutcheon forgot his pendrive and I guess they watched the restoration video on their own and copied it to their computer! We had a super good lesson too and once they get married he will easily be the best baptism we could have so far (Ester and Santiago are great too).

As far as who is in the pictures, the other Elder with me and Villanueva is Elder Sanchez and that family is the Fila a Cirer, he is our ward mission leader, he and his son are named Pablo.

The Spanish is going good, I'm pretty much at the point where I can understand most everything without much thought, but when I speak I recognize how much I need to study haha. Its kind of weird how that works, but you understand others WAY before being able to speak correctly.

Im trying to think of a story but this week has just been long and weird haha. Last P-Day we had the absolute worst luck with everything, (mostly because of our credit cards) but all is going good. I'm not sure exactly how it will work skyping (Darren gets to call home or Skype on Mother's Day), it should be sometime after church for me and probably luch too.. so it may be sometime during your church or after... I'm not sure exactly how it works, just don't plan anything else after church I guess haha.

Anyway, it's so awesome to hear about everyone and I hope you guys can send ME some pictures too! I need to show some of these Argentine what an awesome family I have :D Well, I love you Mom, I hope you have a good day and I'll SEE you soon! haha.


Hey Dad!

The volcanoes did affect our schedule, we were stuck in there for a day and a half, and on top of that on Sunday they had elections and here in Argentina, you MUST  vote or you get a big fine, so we had an hour of church yesterday, then a long time without anything planned haha.

This week has been interesting though, with all this stuff going on, I can't really remember anything we did before all this ash! We are doing good, we officially have our P-Days back! (That is what those Argentine drug dealers REALLY robbed from us haha). So today should start off a good week of uninterrupted missionary work. (If we have any luck haha)

For some reason I have been thinking a lot about "what life will be like AFTER the mission".  I guess its because I have had a lot of free time on my hands, but its also made me think of all the things I have already been blessed with. Its crazy to think that we all have a Heavenly Father, who blesses us and is patient with us, EVEN when we turn our backs on Him and we are so ungrateful at times. I couldnt help but think. "Wow, I´ve never had to worry about a Volcano before." haha. Being here in Argentina, where we help people build their houses (which usually are smaller than our front room) has really opened my eyes to the fact that He really has it all figured out and if we are willing to follow him, we are guaranteed better lives, in whatever living condition you are in.  Just the thoughts of a bored missionary I guess. The other day we were talking with some of the Elders about stuff back home, (I guess Elder Bursach played Destiny too haha) but its really crazy to think that sometimes, I didn't want to get up from the couch, in our big house in front of our flat screen, to walk 20 feet to help you guys pick up the groceries that are sitting in one of the 3 cars at home... And now it took us 3 tries and A LOT of walking to buy stuff for a few days :P

Anyway, i love you dad, im glad to hear that everyone is doing good and ill SEE you soon!