New Assignment as the office Registrador

Hola todos!                                        

It sounds like Allie is running super fast, and it also sounds like the rest of the world is too! I guess I can’t argue if Andrew ran a 4:17 to take my school record. There’s only so much you can do!

Last Saturday PABLO WAS BAPTIZED!!!! It took a long time, but he was finally there and we were able to perform the ordinance. It was a really a cool experience. The branch that I just left was a difficult one, and only the branch president and the Elders Quorum President came to the service, but he was baptized!  Unfortunately, he caught a cold the next day because he was all wet and so he could not be confirmed until tomorrow.  I won’t know about it until the record comes into the office.

Also, last Saturday night I got a call from President, and he asked me to be the new registrador in the offices of the mission. Honestly, I wasn’t exactly expecting the office call, nor did I want it. I will probably in the office for about 4 transfers, or a little more than 5 months--maybe more.  It takes two transfers just to train me with the new responsibilities.  I’m about at my year mark and that is when I would expect to be called as a trainer or maybe a district leader. I was even a little bummed on Sunday because I only have 2 years to give, and now about 5 months of my mission is not going to be outside working all day and that is where I want to be.  

I did also learn for myself that the Lord has a plan for me--even if it’s not down the normal road. I read a scripture in Hebrews that taught me a lot. It talked about how we need to have patience until the Lord’s will is completed, and then we will receive the promise. That really helped me put things in perspective, and now I actually like the new assignment. Honestly, this week was nice, and fun because the people that work in the office with me are great.

My p-day has changed from Monday to Saturdays so that is when you can expect my emails. The only down side is that we can’t play soccer with the other missionaries on Monday.  However, winter is rolling in and I’m not sure if the Elders are going to be playing soccer for much longer anyway.

My daily schedule has changed completely too. We still wake up at 6:30 do our studies and all, but then at 9:45 we report to the offices to have a devotional with the office staff. After the devotional, we get to work. We work on baptismal records, mail, supplies, key indicators, and what ever our mission president needs from us. There isn’t too much travel involved, but we do get to drive to Capital every other week because the international post office is up there and we have to pick up packages. Each night at 6pm, we get to go and proselyte for the rest of the evening like normal missionaries.  I still have a lot to learn, but it’s getting easier to understand what is happening everyday.

The area around the mission office is super nice. It’s the nicest place in the Mission, or at least I think so. Our Pench is also super nice; we even have a washing machine! (Hallelujah!!!).

My comp is really great too.  They only let those who speak English have this assignment because the Senior Couple that work in the office do not speak a lick of Spanish. So my comp now is American and my next comp will most likely be as well.

For P-day, we watched the Disney movie “Frozen.” I liked it, and it was a lot of fun. You were right about the snowman being pretty funny. Other than that, we shopped, wrote letters, and did other stuff around.

Mom, I think that is interesting that Sister Thurgood (Mission president’s wife) called you. She didn’t tell me about it. It does make me feel good to know that she likes me and I’m doing a good job. It is easy for me to feel just like a normal missionary and blend in, but I think it is cool that she at least thought enough about me to call you to tell you.

I´ll talk to you tomorrow for mother’s day. I think I’ve got Allie beat. She can’t beat a missionary phone call for Mother´s day, so you can just let her know I´ve got it in the bag this year!

Haha, I´ll talk to you tomorrow!

Anyway, that’s it for this week. Hope to have more next time!

Love you all!

Elder Chipman

Hola todos!

I'm called Elder Grandote (Elder Giant)

Hola Todos!  

It’s been another good week in San Fransisco.  We’ve been working really hard in this area, and we haven’t had a lot of success, but we have a baptism coming up this Saturday! Pablo has come to church and is super prepared. So we hope to have him baptized this upcoming Saturday, and confirmed the following day. I’ll keep you posted. He should’ve been baptized 12 weeks ago, but hey, it’s all good. We think the hurdles have been cleared, we just need to finish.

So with that, it’s been great! We’ve been working closely with the Elders Quorum President this week and have visited a lot of less actives members with him. He taught me a lot about the blessing that we have when we sing hymns. When we go out with him, he tells us only to sing hymns. So that’s what we do. There are very few things that can bring the spirit faster than a hymn, and it doesn’t mean that you have to be able to sing, trust me, I would know.

If things go as predicted, I’m probably heading to a different area next week. I’m a little bummed because I really like it here. Plus, I don’t like getting transferred. You get in a routine with your comp and with your area, and it’s comfortable. With transfers, you just feel lost and you don’t know what’s going on for a long time. Let’s just say, I have a little bit of hope that I can stay for another transfer or two, but we’ll have to see.

                                                                                         

Overall, life is good, I’m getting along with my companion, and the weather is that beautiful fall weather. The leaves are changing colors, and the farmland is really pretty now.  It is just a good atmosphere all around.   Dad, it is good to see that my experiences are similar to your mission, because if I become just like you, I will be a very happy man--just so you know.  I’m also starting to learn how to have fun on my mission. It’s impossible to be too serious for too long and I’m not really good at being serious.

Thanks for the money.  Inflation has been up and we had to use some money from my checking account for food.  The mission recently made the adjustment so we will get more money, so I don’t plan on using more soon.  I just get so hungry =)

As far as the food of the week: I made a super good pasta mixed with fried onions and bell peppers. I think that I should just buy a deep fat fryer or something like that because that’s all I seem to know how to cook, but it’s so good! As far as the impressive donuts that I made last week: They were really just bread in the shape of a circle, fried with extra sugar in the dough. I’m still trying to figure out how to use yeast. It’s a process.

Anyway, Thanks for everything! I love you all, thanks for all of your support.

Love

Elder Chipman

PS: You don’t need to worry about me being robbed.   I’m a giant here. Nobody remembers my name because it is hard to pronounce for them, so they just call me Elder Grandote, or Elder Giant.  So there you go.

Happy Easter!

Feliz Pascua Todos!                                                

Its been a great week! We remember the Savior and his sacrifice every day, but there is no denying that there is a special spirit of the Holy Week, where we can really focus on what he did for us, and why it is important. 

It was really great because the majority of our lessons were about Easter and Christ´s sacrifice for us. It is amazing that through our savior´s sacrifice, we are all able to live again, overcome challenges, sin, sickness, and death. That because someone was so selfless, that he wasn´t just preoccupied about his own salvation, but the salvation of every living soul that has or ever will live on the earth. We cannot understand how great the atonement really is, but we can appreciate what he did, and understand that it is the only way to be happy, have  peace, hope, and it is the only way to reach our eternal destination, and live with our loving Father in Heaven, and our Savior Jesus Christ. All he asks is that we follow him, keep his commandments, be baptized, and he will be with us everyday until the end. 

Sorry its a little late, but its only a day late. Just know that I know that he lives, while it is important to respect, and worship his sacrifice for us, his death and suffering in Gethsemane, it is even more important to celebrate and appreciate the fact that he rose again, and lives today. I know that my Redeemer lives, and loves each of us in a personal manner that we cannot understand.

The Easter custom here is to make the Easter eggs out of chocolate and fill the insides with candy. They don’t have an Easter egg hunt, but the chocolate is good! We got a lot of them because we are missionaries. All right! 

I also tried to make donuts today, and it worked well! I just need to figure out how to make a glaze or something, but I’m learning how to cook!  Pretty cool right? (Don’t show dad =)  )

We are still having troubles getting our investigators to church, and that is frustrating, but its a process I guess. Chances are that I leave the area in 2 weeks. That’s just what we are guessing. It would be nice to have a baptism the weekend before I change, but we’ll see.

Overall, it was a pretty good day. We visited the Stadium of Defensa y Justicia of the soccer team in our zone called Florencio Valera. They have really cool murals on the walls outside the stadium, so I, took some pictures, and it was fun. The other shields in the mural are other teams in Argentina. The Blue one that says CABJ is Boca and the Red one that says CARP is River, they are the biggest teams,

Love you all and have a great week

Elder Chipman

Rant of the week :)

 Hola Todos, Como Andan?                                                                

All I can say, it’s about time we got a dog =)

I didn’t believe Allie´s email at first, but the pictures have me convinced. What a beautiful dog! Maybe it’s because I only see dogs that have been flea stricken, beat up, missing eyes, limbs, diseased, or dead. But I still think it’s pretty! How weird. It changes the family dynamic a little bit, and I like it. It will be fun having a dog at home. If you ever get mad at the dog, just pet it behind the ears. There are very few things cuter than a dog being petted on the head and it will help you remember why you got it =)

It’s been another great week in San Fransisco, and let me tell you, very cold as well. Fall hit all at once with a freezing wind on Saturday. Sunday was equally as cold. This morning, I wore my sleeping bag like a giant cocoon as I did my studies, and probably had the shortest shower of my life. After a year of summer weather, the slightest sign of a chill sends me running for my scarf, gloves, and hat.

Elder Cobb says that this is the hardest area that he has ever worked in, which is funny, because with him as my comp, I wouldn’t mind staying here for the rest of my mission. We are working our tails off, and even though numbers don’t matter, we have the highest in the district, and we’ve been doing well.  As far as the teaching goes, we are working and finding. We were finally able to talk to Pablo again this week, and he’s been having troubles with work, but is ready to keep going for his baptism. One thing that I have learned from my mission is the importance of the commandments. As missionaries, we hear a lot of trials, problems, and afflictions of others. While these are difficult things that people deal with and have to overcome, I’ve noticed a distinct difference between the one’s who keep the commandments, and the one’s who abandoned their faith. Life is not difficult if we keep the commandments exactly the way we are taught. In Matthew 11 28-30, it says that the Lord’s yoke is easy, and his burden is light. Also in D&C it says that the Lord is bound when we do what he says, but if not, we have no promise. He promises us support, strength, and faith if we come unto him and do what he asks us to do. Not because he is oppressive, or because he likes giving us rules, but because he knows the easiest way. He will always lead us to happiness, not exactly ease, but happiness. Anyway, here is the rant of the week.

So even though we can’t get packages, letters are ok! Stickers and things like you have sent are definitely spendable. If you want to send me that picture of Allie and Dakota in the car (the one it looks like Dakota is smiling) I wouldn’t mind that either. 

On a cultural note, I learned to fold empanadas, and we ate a ton of them on Friday. Yes they were delicious. The primary foods with every Argentinean meal are Pasta Potatoes and Bread-- with a good Dollop of Mayo. I’m still maintaining an athletic figure, for now.  Let’s just say that  I plan on working out a lot when I get home.  I hope that will help.

I love you all,  and hope you’re all doing great, and doing what’s right. We should never overlook the classic primary saying, “Choose the Right, its really what brings happiness in this life.”

Until next week!

Elder Chipman

I enjoyed conference weekend

Hola todos,                                                                           

Well, like everyone else, I’ve enjoyed conference this weekend. Probably was the best conference that I’ve ever listened to. There are always answers found to our questions when we listen to the prophet’s voice. There is a scripture that we used a lot this week when inviting others to come to conference. To paraphrase it says, ´whether by my own voice, or the voice of my servants, it is the same.´ So what does this mean to us? Like President Monson said last night (or in your case, in the afternoon) We have a loving Father in Heaven who is personal. He knows each and every one of us personally. So when we listen to his words, through the prophets, it is personal. I hope you all felt the Spirit testifying to you and that the Lord was answering your specific question , because I sure did.

Now to my conference experience- We were lucky and were allowed to watch conference in English in the Family History center in the Stake Center. It was a tiny room with about 12 missionaries crammed inside. It was squishy, but the spirit was strong. We watched it at 1 and 5pm. And as of yet, I have not yet seen the priesthood session which started at 9 and ended at 11pm.  It was a rainy weekend, but really great.

I noticed a lot of talks about the commandments. Including one from Elder Zivic of the seventy (He´s from Buenos Aires). The commandments aren´t going to change, they never will. It’s a rod of Iron, not a chalk line drawn in the sand that can be erased and redrawn again. That is the theme that I have seen this conference.

We worked hard again this week. It sometimes feels like we’re just running on a treadmill. We find investigators, teach them, they have a problem, and then disappear. So when the Skalla´s son-in-law said that this was a difficult mission, I can attest to that. It’s a great country and culture, but their way of life is far from the way of God, and very few people seem to be willing to change. It’s a lot like Elder Holland said, “some people just want a God that pats them on the head and sends them to pick marigolds in the grass fields.” It makes the work stressful, but I also have learned that Heavenly Father is a God of patience, and satan is a god of instant gratification.

On a higher note, I played soccer again, and it was great! I’m still getting chubby but it’s because I am only eating bread and pasta everyday. It is pretty much the only food in Argentina, but it’s good. I haven´t had a meal I haven´t liked! Haha maybe that´s a bad thing.

Also just to notify y´all. The government here is being difficult with packages, so our mission president asked us to send this to everyone,

Due to the constraints imposed by the government of Argentina for imports, we are having trouble receiving packages from other countries. Because of these constraints, we recommend that the next time missionaries communicate with their families via email, that they ask them to not send any more packages. If packages are sent, they will probably remain in customs and never reach their destination. We want to clarify that there is no malice in this action. When we receive these packages from customs, it is a costly process for the Church.

Sorry you can´t send anymore packages. That kinda stinks, but I got your last letter with the articles, and also a letter from Elsie Burgoyne with 3 little airheads in them--I ate them in 3 seconds flat. Delicious!

So that´s just the way it has gotta be. IF you want, you can continue to put together packages, but you just have to wait another year to send them to me when I get home. Sorry.

Thanks for everything. Hope all is well! Have a good week!

Love, 

Elder Chipman

Argentina is awesome!

Wow, what a week in San Fransisco!                      

Argentina is awesome. It really is. I love it, even when it is hard. Sometimes the people are hard to work with and it seems like nobody is actually married, but it’s just a great place to be. You should see how the people get excited about soccer. I’m actually getting pretty good at that sport myself. I scored numerous goals today when the missionaries played together, and even had a sick header for one of them--just so you know. It was fun.

We are still struggling to get this area off the ground. It’s a difficult area, but we’re working as hard as we can to get it going. I learned something interesting. In 3 Nephi 11: 10-11 Christ is introducing himself to the Nephites after his resurrection.  When he describes his atonement, he says that he took their sins upon him. I really like the word “take”. It shows that he willingly did it. I then began to think about the atonement and about what he was thinking about during it. He was in extreme pain; in fact we cannot comprehend the amount of pain.  My question is was he suffering?  He knew what he was doing. He knew it would free all of us from the bondage of eternal death, and he knew all this while he was experiencing it. I just think that he knew what he was doing, so it was worth it to him. So while I am not comparing the difficulty of a mission to the pain that he felt, I see a common theme. The mission is hard, I know that, but I also know what I am doing. I know that blessings await me for my service, and it will all be worth it. I don’t know if that makes sense, but that is just some of my thoughts.

We have always been working hard, but this week, we realized that the branch was struggling and needed something more than just two hard working missionaries, so we went crazy. We came home each night to our Pench exhausted every night. It was amazing and we really saw a lot of miracles --not just tender mercies, but the literal hand of God, putting us where we needed to be or God helping us out in some way. Literally lessons would come out of no where, and investigators would just pop up, ready to have us come and talk to them.

We found a family this week and when we were talking about the first vision, I pulled out my gospel art book, and showed them the picture of the first vision. Then the mom of the family told us that she has seen that picture before in a dream. She then gave us an account of a very vivid dream that she had, and she said she could distinctly remember that same forest in the picture. It was just a cool experience that the Lord blessed us with.

It was really good week, and we are set to do it again. We plan on working our tails off this transfer, and it’s going to be fun! I really look forward to it. Plus it’s already conference this weekend! That marks my 6 month mark in Argentina!

For the first time in 2 weeks, we didn't get sick or have an activity or conference or nothing and we saw tons of miracles. One was on Saturday when we were biking next to the Highway and we passed a boy that looked like he was looking for something. We stopped to see what he needed. He was riding his uncle’s bike from a friend’s house and an important screw came loose and fell off. Now to paint a picture for you, this is in the side of a busy highway in the middle of farmland. The side of the road has a skinny path that bikes can use, with tall weeds on either side. At first we tried to help him find the screw. Then my companion asked him, “have you tried to pray yet?” The kid was about 10 years old, and gave my comp a funny look. After some convincing, my comp was able to say a prayer for him.  Five minutes later, the boy stooped down and held up his screw. What a relief! But wait, it ain't done yet! The boy said to us, “great, now I just need the nut” THE NUT! That little tiny piece that could've fallen off miles back! So we continued our search, and we were praying in our hearts. Then, like it always does, the miracle came. The kid stooped down, and found the bolt to the screw only a few steps further down the road!

God hears our prayers. There are a lot of big life and death problems in the world , and many people have real needs. But God knows when a sparrow falls, or how important is for a little boy in the middle of San Fransisco, Argentina to find a screw and a bolt to his uncle’s bike. We have a loving Heavenly Father, who loves each of us. The things that are important to us are important to Him. He cares. Sometimes He won’t always give us what we want, but He will provide us with what we need.

In other news, there was a huge soccer game last night. There are two teams that are hugely popular in Buenos Aires and they are Boca and River. This rivalry is more intense than anything in the United States. This rivalry beats Utah/BYU, Michigan/Ohio State, Yankees/Red Sox, everything. Every person that I have met cheers for one of those two teams in every area I've served, and they squared off last night. Even though we couldn't watch the game, we knew when someone scored, because the whole world outside our pension was screaming and fireworks were going off. No joke. It would be completely silent, and then suddenly screaming would just fill the air as well as fireworks.  The World Cup will be something else. I can’t wait!  River won, just in case anyone out there knows what that means.

Sounds like Andrew and Connor are getting off to a great start for the Vista Track season. I won’t trash talk because I don´t want to get them too motivated. I’m not going to lie, this week I’ve been missing high school sports. They were so much fun, so I've gotta do something athletic when I get back home. I used some of that pent up energy today when I played soccer. My companion and I are still running and either exercising or playing basketball in the mornings. So that has been good.

Funny story: At the end of a lesson this week, we were talking with one of our investigators named Laura. She has been repairing her roof, so I tried to offer our help, but instead of saying “Necesita ayuda con su techo,” I asked, “necesita ayuda con su pecho,” which just happens to be the slang word for boobs in Spanish. My comp had a good laugh about that one. Oh well.  I am getting better.

Wow! It sounds like you had a fun spring break trip, but wow were those high cliffs at Zions!  I am, however, very disappointed that you were only able to eat 1 plate of ENDLESS Kneader’s french toast breakfast. You could’ve at least tried to eat 2. It was already paid for! Anyway, I´ll have to come home and show you how it’s done, because my appetite still hasn’t changed much.

I hope you know that the summer I get back, we're just going to be on vacation the whole summer---so don’t plan anything. We must go to Hawaii, Zions, Telluride (I really liked that place), and Atlanta. Oh, and New York City for Megan. Ha-ha only kidding!  It sounds like it was a great trip.

Anyway, hope all is well at home. Love you all, you’re the best!

Love,

Elder Chipman

I'm happy and loving life. . .

Hola Hola                                                                                              March 23, 2014

Bueno, it’s been another great week in San Fransisco. Today is the start of a new transfer, and Elder Cobb and I are staying for the next 6 weeks. I’m excited because we have a lot of plans for this area, and its going to be a good transfer. 

As far as teaching goes, it was a slow week. Elder Cobb was sick for 2 days and we had an activity to plan, but the activity went really well. We made the stage of the church look like an airplane, and had security lines and everything. We then pretended that the airplane crashed, and everyone died, so we took them through the Plan of Salvation.  We toured the three different kingdoms of glory, and finally brought them into the chapel, or the celestial kingdom. At the end, we sang Creo en Cristo, or I believe in Christ, and everyone was touched. The only downside was that only 10 people showed up. The 10 that came really felt the spirit though.

Airport Security reproduced

Interior of doomed airplane

Celestial Kingdom

Other than that, we had some fun days. Elder Cobb found a dead snake on the side of the road and so he put it in an empty coke bottle and brought it back to the pench. He then decided to skin it, so we have a lovely snake skin in our pench.

Today has been really fun actually. We don’t have a zone activity because transfer meeting is today and a lot of our zone is down there so Elder Cobb and I figured out how to play a lion King duet on our harmonicas. We made an awesome music video for it. I don’t know if I’m allowed to send videos home, but it’s pretty artistic since we don’t have a lot to work with. I’ll show you in a year.

I bought a basketball and that sweet Argentina Jersey. It was about 600 pesos. If you could check to make sure it was paid for I would appreciate that. And thank you very much. We’ve started to play basketball in the mornings for exercise, I like it, I can’t play my hardest, because then it wouldn’t be fun for anyone else, but I still can run around.

Hope you enjoy spring break and you get the chance to relax! I miss you, but I’m doing pretty well. I’m happy and loving life, now I just need to find someone to baptize!

Anyway, hope all of you are enjoying life! Looking forward to hearing from you next week.

Until then!

Elder Chipman