Tons of Pictures!

3 Mar 2008

Querido Familia,

Disculpe si otra vez no tengo tiempo para leer las cartas primeramente y entonces responder. Pero, ¡Tengo fotos! (basically Drake will write later. He doesn't have time to respond because he has pictures!)

I think I´ll list the photos by their file number.

77. From right to left, Noelia, Ricardo Diaz (her brother who baptized her), Karen (whom I baptized), me, E´Gonzalez, Alexis (an eight year old kid from Castillo II, son of converts), Florencia (who was baptized by E´Gonzalez), E´Gonzalez (the other one, often known as E´Gonzalez Hijo because he has less time than me in the mission), and E´Lloyd.




78. Las Mellisas (the fraternal twins) with their Mom Roxanna, who was baptized last week (sorry, I´m not able to send photos of that baptism right now, they were taken without the chip in the camera; I forgot to put it back in. So, I need to bring my camera with the link to be able to send them), and us. It was truely a hassle to help give enough courage to Karen and Florencia to get baptized. I was so relieved when they showed up for the bautismal interview Friday because we weren´t sure if they would come.


79. This is the huge family of Noelia. She and her Mom live in Tucuman, a different province in Argentina, in a rural area far away from any chapel. So, she was never able to get baptized. But she was already living as an LDS before, including reading the Book of Mormon and fasting when she needed more spiritual strength. Nearly all of her uncles and aunts are members living here, with their families. She had a lot of support.


86. This is a picture of me with a golden sword made out of a tie and wood. It is really cool. E´Gonzalez and I got it for this past week during our district meeting from the Zone Leaders for working so well with the members. We comply with the 10 weekly lessons with a member present, because of the work that E´Gonzalez puts into calling everyone and the willingness of all of the members here in Castillo I. In this picuture you can see the cheap 5 peso watch that I bought in Villa Amelia, a part of the pensión (that´s the side of E´Lloyd and E´Gonzalez hijo), how I´m a bit tanner than I´ve ever been in my life, and sorry Mom, my goofy smile as well.


89. Our small district/pench dwellers (pench is an anglicized version of the word pensión) at the temple today. This also shows E´Gonzalez hijo with a moustache. (He cut his lip shaving this morning and had to put on a band-aid).




83-85. These are all photos of an approaching storm that we took from the roof of our pench. I love the sky here. It is so flat, we have such a huge horizon; you can see out forever from a high place. This storm was pretty bad, with a bit of hail and all. It kind of came out of nowhere too. My companion has been a bit sick recently, so we stayed in the pench to rest a bit when we saw this storm approaching rapidly. He said that they were “las tinieblas de afuera” which literally means misty darkness of outside, but also refers to Outer Darkness. Luckily, we weren´t outside working when it hit.

...And now to write a bit about this past week.

First of all, the baptism went really well. There was a ton of people! We did a joint baptism with Castillo II, so with them, la Familia Díaz, and everyone else, it felt like an active ward...being about 50-80 people. To make it even more grand, President Benton decided to show up. The only problem was there wasn´t as many refreshments as usual.

Right now, we are without baptismal dates, but we have several good progressing investigators who could very well get baptized next transfer. First and foremost is Ana María. She has been attending every activity and meeting she possibly can (spending all day at the church Saturday) and is constantly asking good questions. Daniel, the husband of Roxana, came to the baptism and then came to church and could turn into a good investigator again. Walter, the conyuge of the couple that was having problems last week, really is showing his desire to have a better family life and Silvia said that they are going to go to the lawyer today in order to get the papers necessary to get married. We also found an interesting investigator a few weeks ago, but yesterday was the first time we could find “him” with time to teach. Miguel is a cross-dresser that we taught the first lesson with the spirit present and challenged him to change. He said that he would love to change and have a family, but he´s been like this his entire life (and he looks and sounds like a woman now). If he can change, it will probably be one of the biggest changes I´ve seen on the mission, but I know it is possible through the Gospel. Friday we taught an investigator, who hasn´t read in the Book of Mormon yet, but we decided to read parts with her and she said “I don´t know, but I felt something strange while we were reading.” We immediately explained the feelings of the Holy Ghost again. We have a few others I´d like to talk about, but I´m out of time.

I love you all and I wish that the Spirit of change can constantly mold you into who you are to be.

Love,
Elder Drake Ranquist

Washington D.C. and Figs!

Sorry I didn't post last week, I was in Washington D.C.! I went with a group of school friends to an environmental convention called Powershift. It was really neat, 12,000 students (mainly college) met at the Washington D.C. convention center to listen to speeches by proffesional environmentalists and congressmen, to discuss environmental issues, and suggest ways to improve the environment in their hometowns.
Anyway, now to Drake...

24 Feb 2009

Querida Familia,

This week has been a bit bitter-sweet. That´s how it seems like a lot of life is. We are happy for one reason and sad for another. But before I get too much into the past week, there are a few questions to ask.
First of all, I received a letter from Adam Leonhardt a little over a month ago (he wrote it back in November), but haven´t had a chance to respond to it until today. I wrote the letter, and when I looked for the return address, it wasn´t there. So, in order to send the letter, I need the address, so could you send that to me?
Next, I was talking with one of the members of our ward and she has Danish heritage. Her maiden name is Abligaard. Mom, do we have any relation? I have no clue.
Oh, I think next week, I´ll probably take out about 200 pesos from the bank. First of all, I´ve been having to buy some new socks. These socks aren´t worn out yet, but after 4 months of being washed by hand, they´ve lost all their color. They are either more white or red than black. To maintain my appearance, I´ve had to buy some new ones. Also, I bought a little adapter so that I could put my camera chip into the USB port of a computer. I borrowed the adapter from my companions in Villa Amelia, but my companions here in Castillo don´t have one, so I decided to buy it myself. I´m also planning on buying more sun protector and vitamins. Their about 40 pesos each, which is quite expensive. I decided that Mom would rather me not go without those things (even though most missionaries do). I still have some money left over from what you gave me before I came and I feel that I manage the money I receive pretty well, but I just like to be sure.
Just another sidenote. Last week, I tried a fig for the first time. I´ve always read about them in the Bible, but I´ve never really known what it is. To be honest, I imagined little tumbleweeds growing on the trees. But I knew they could be eaten as well, so I didn´t know what to think. Now I´ve learned that they are a fruit and are very sweet. I believe that in most of the representations of the tree of life, from Lehi´s dream, the fruit is a fig. There are various types, but these were growing on a tree of a member´s house and are purple. You don´t eat it straight, you open it up and eat the insides, which look really interesting. It is like a whole bunch of red, juicy, strings from the outside pointing inward. I´m definitely eating them again if I have the chance. And now I have a better understanding of the Bible and some of its stories.
Now for the news of the week. We had another baptism! I had the honor of baptizing Asunción de Dolores Medina and my companion baptized Roxana Gutierrez. They were so happy. Lola (the name Dolores goes by) is an elderly lady and I think she has great-grandchildren (the generations here in Argentina are a little shorter due to many of the problems with the law of chastity). She is extremely faithful. After teaching her the law of tithing, the next time we came by, she had two pesos in the envelope and was asking us how she pays her tithing exactly.
Roxana was extremely happy as well. She overcame her addiction of cigarettes and really feels the change and happiness of the Gospel. We´re having some problems with her two daughters Florencia and Karen (remember to pronounce it in Spanish). They are 13 and laugh at everything. They keep switching back and forth whether they want to get baptized or not. They´ve been going to church regularly and are ready. But they keep switching between “Yes, we´ll get baptized” and “No, we want to wait more.” It is a little tiring as we keep trying to animate them. But during the baptismal service of Roxana and Lola I couldn´t stop smiling. I felt really happy for them.
Now for the sad part. Maxi, one of the best investigators I´ve seen, wasn´t able to get baptized. Just as is promised in the scriptures, as soon as someone finds the truth, Satan works all the much harder to prevent them from receiving its blessings. A few times an Evangelical woman passed by trying to convince him of the “evils” of Mormonism. When he said that he was getting baptized and that he had already sent out the invitations, she said “You are making a contract with the devil and trying to bring others down with you.” But he stood strong against these attacks. But then, thursday night, the night just before his baptismal interview one of his female friends popped out of nowhere and decided to live with him. He hasn´t seen her for more than two years and was living with another man, but was thrown out of that house. So, she decided to live with Maxi. So, he wasn´t able to get baptized and now feels really disheartened. He feels ashamed and doesn´t want to come to church. He doesn´t want to get baptized now because he´s afraid he´ll just make another mistake. And also, he doesn´t know how to nicely get rid of this lady. I wasn´t there for his interview, I was on divisions, but my companion recounted that he said the devil sent her. This is really sad, but it came with other consequences. Maxi was the support of his neighbor Osorio who was in the process of quitting drinking wine. But with the problem and the desanimo (I can´t remember this word in english, disheartening...depression...gah, I know it but, oh discourgement is the word!) of Maxi, he feels that there are too many restrictions, doesn´t want to continue fighting his addiction and is back to drinking a ton of wine. So, we have our work cut out for us to help them more, to not give up, and pray sincerely for the Lord´s help in this situation.
Another event occurred that was really sad. If there is one thing that pains me more than anything else is when the parents of children say they are thinking of seperating. Yes, this is one of the options to comply with the law of chastity, but so much better it is to get married and save the family. We as missionaries learn that the family really is the most important part of life, the secret of happiness. And when we hear of the destruction of it, it pains us. We went to one family where the mother and children are baptized (when the mother was living seperated from the father, but now are back together again). In order for the father to get baptized, he needs to get married and commit to not drinking again. They are in the process of getting married, but they need to talk with a lawyer first about a paper and he isn´t available until March. But when we went this Sunday, the Silvia was really frustrated and was seriously wanting to seperate from Walter. We stayed and listened for about an hour, hour and a half. After helping them calm down a little and teaching of the importance of the family, the need of having family goals (like we have goals as companionships), and the role of the father in the family, they both changed a little, felt more love the one for the other, and put in their hearts that they wanted to change for the benefit of the family. In the end, Walter gave the prayer on our knees and afterwards, we missionaries always have the habit of hugging after the prayers (we always greet other missionaries with a hug, not a handshake). So, that is what they did. It was beautiful to see. I hope that they´ll be able to maintain what they felt that night in order to work for a happy family.
Ok, I´m out of time again. But I want to express my love and my gratitude for having such a wonderful family. Thank you for everything you´ve done to help us be happy.

Love,
Elder Drake Ranquist

Picturas!

Dear Family,

We had a great baptism this Saturday! Here are a few photos.

The first isn´t of the baptism, it is of a family from my last area. This is familia Vera. The father is a Police Officer and Works a lot. He also gave me a really cool tie clip that I think is from his dress uniform. The mother is a return missionary who complained to us that we never pass by. When we did, we found out that their son wasn´t baptized. So we baptized him. And we worked with this family a lot over the few months I was there with E´Spendlove. I was usually pretty quiet, but they said that I was very spiritual.

This is the family of Ciris, Luís, and Juan. The mother and the other son (Ciris also, who didn´t come to the baptism and we don´t quite understand why) are already members. The baptism went extremely well.

I believe this one is of the three who were baptized, along with my companion E´Gonzalez and E´Gilmore. He received permission from the president to come to this baptism because he worked so much with them. I didn´t really have much to do with it.

This is a poster that my companion made for an investigador named Roxanna. She stopped smoking recently and he made it to remind her that she is committed to not smoking again. This poster is really, really nice and is hanging next to the TV in the main room of the house. All her visiters comment about it and I think one of her friends is now trying to stop smoking because of her great example. Roxanna will be baptized this Saturday, along with Maxi and Lola.
I have a few more pictures I want to sent, I´ll get to work on them now.

-E´Ranquist

Ok, I´m back.

You know the pizza I was telling you about that we ate every Sunday? Well, here they are. They´re pretty good, but I do miss Papa John´s Supreme pizza. A lot of times these pizzas included either green olives (to which I´ve accustomed myself and can eat without problems. I´m not sure if I can touch black olives yet) or anchovies (which really aren´t bad. They aren´t my preffered, but it was nice to have a little variety in the pizza).

Here is the maker of all of the pizza, Hma. Valle. She is also the mother or grandmother of about half the ward. I wish I could´ve gotten a photo of all of them together, but suprisingly, there weren´t very many there that last day, so I didn´t get one. Some of her daugters include Hma. Vera (we baptized her son), Hma. deBernardi (the Relief Society President who loved to have hilarious word fights with my companions), and Hma. Aza (who would absolutely stuff us every time we had lunch with her. A returned missionary as well).

This is a photo of a family we helped reactivate. One of the sons, Matías, wasn´t there (the one that is a little bit more rebelious), but here is the father, Hmo. Urquirza, Lucas the son, and I can´t remember the daughter´s name. The father was usually a little frustrated with his sons, but they were a great family. It is a bit sad that their mom left them. I really hope that Lucas and Matías will be ready and able to serve missions in a few years.

And last of all, this is a Picture of part of the Pereira family. They are the ones that we made the floor for and are working hard to get ready to be sealed in the temple. I believe I´ve sent pictures home of the rest of the family in the baptism of Hernán.

Ok, there´s all the pictures. I don´t have much time to write now, but I´ll put a bit. We are doing really, really well in this area. It is amazing how prepared a lot of these people are. Right now, we have a baptism planned for every Saturday of this transfer (6 weeks). This week is Roxanna, Maxi, and Lola. The following week, the twin girls of Roxanna. The week after Osorio, the neighbor of Maxi, who needs to quite drinking wine (he´s following a plan I made to help him!), and the week after is a couple that came to the baptism Saturday without us knowing it that the family with whom we ate lunch on Sunday notified us. I´ll talk more about them next week I believe.

I´m really loving it here. Part of me didn´t want to take P-day and just go out and work. I´m glad all is going well with you.

Sincerely,
Elder Drake Ranquist

Replacing Elder Gilmore!

3 Feb 2009

Dear Family,

I´m not sure if I´ll have time to read the letters that you sent because I went through that big change that I warned you about and I want to make sure I can write all that I want. And I got two copies of the letter you sent last week Dad, but the letter for this week is a bit of a mess. It is like it took the begginning, put it at the end, cut out a bit of the middle. No sé que pasó. I don´t know what happened. Ok, I fixed it. There are problems with the internet site, no más.

I am now in my second area on my mission. I have left my birthplace, Villa Amelia, and am now in Rafael Castillo 1, which might sound vaguely familiar to you. I am the replacement of Sean Gilmore. He has been here for six months. He left for another zone, I don´t remember which, but I find it amazing that I followed him here. So, if you have been keeping up with his blog, you know a lot more than me about this area and my companion Elder Gonzalez of Chile. I guess if there are people reading both his and mine, I will continue the story of this area.

First to talk about Villa Amelia. There really isn´t that much to say actually. We had some problems with Natividad. She is accusing one of the church leaders of doing something he shouldn´t and we aren´t sure who to believe. At first we thought she had a misunderstanding, but after talking around a little Sunday, her story lines up a little better. Now we´re not sure what happened. I´m kind of glad that I don´t have to deal with all the problems that have happened and are going on in the ward of Villa Amelia. I understand better why they had to make such an odd boundary change in order to pull in a bishop from another ward. I hope that all goes well.

Since E´Spendlove and I knew that one of us were going, we made several visits to the people we wanted to say goodbye to Sunday and yesterday. I took pictures with several of the families, so I will try to send them next week. Although, many of the pictures are missing people because noone wanted to be home for me to say goodbye to. It was like a curse. Griselda is in the hospital. Hmo. Salvador wasn´t home. Most of the Pereira family were at the pool. And the store where Carolina Sosa works was closed. We did a lesson with an elderly couple that have a lot of interest in the church. E´Peterson and I found them during divisions and she knew the church in Santa Fe, Argentina. She is a widow living together with another elderly man, who also has a lot of interest. There is the obstacle that they need to get married, and if they do, she loses her pension from the government. So it will be a sacrifice, but if there is one thing that I´ve learned in my life here on Earth is that if we sacrifice for the Lord, He blesses us abundantly. So, I hope all goes well with them with E´Spendlove and his new companion. I forget his name, but he is from Chile and entered at the same time as I did.

I will try to explain what little I know about Castillo 1. First, it is in the stake of Catán, but in the part that is really close to Castelar, the stake I came from. Catán is known as the “heart” of the mission, because it is in the center, I believe. If I take the train that is here in Castillo, the next stop is Merlo Gomez, which is one of the limits of Villa Amelia. The next station is really close to the chapel of Villa Amelia. So, I´m not too far away. In comparison with Villa Amelia, this area is really small. It is about a third of the size. We only have to use colectivos, being translated buses, for district meetings and zone conferences. So, I don´t have to spend $150 or more pesos in travel every month. That will be a blessing. Another blessing is that there is a laundromat here! I don´t have to spend all of my free time hand washing my laundery! We live in a pensión that is really close to the train station, less than a block. There are four of us, which is good because I think my companions will always need someone else to talk with during the nights because of how little I talk. It isn´t the greatest, but it is better than my first pensión. Luckily, we have Air Conditioning for the central room where we all sleep. Of the other elders, one is from Paraguay and the other from Utah. The other north american just came back from campo and so is new to the area as well.

From what I hear, the missionary work is going really well in this area. My companion and E´Gilmore gave a brief message during the Transfer Meeting about how they used oragami to interest some of the kids and help get their parents to start investigating. They had 9 investigators in sacrament meeting. 9! That is amazing. I feel blessed if there is one! So, we are going to be working really hard to help all those coming to church receive a lasting conversion.

E´Gonzalez seems like an excellent Elder to me. I think that we´ll get along well and that we´ll do great work together. Today, while making purchases and walking around, he has been doing contacts with people, which most elders don´t do on P-days. I need to really improve on making contacts. Every missionary should do 10 every day and it is really hard for me. But I think I´ll overcome that barrier. I don´t know too much about my companion yet, but he is really nice. It sounds like he really got along with E´Gilmore (who predicted that I would come here by the way). But, I´m almost the complete opposite of E´Gilmore, so we´ll see. I doubt we´ll have problems, I just hope that we can form a friendship, which I didn´t have with my past too companions.

I will let you know more as I live through and learn more. I printed out your letters and will read them when I get back to the pensión. I hope all is going well and that the your work with Aaron is going well too. I´m grateful for this opportunity to grow more and serve my Lord. I hope that His Spirit will always be with you to guide and comfort.

Love,
Elder Drake Ranquist

Ice Storm in KY! Divisions in Argentina?

A few inches of snow and ice might not seem like a big deal to those of you out west, but here in Kentucky, it's a rareity! On Monday and Tuesday, a big storm passed through, and we recieved layer upon layer of ice and snow. The snow isn't the problem, we've dealt with that before. It's the ice! Ice is just covering everything, including the power lines. Luckily, my family never lost power, but so far we've housed 6 different people who did! (most of which happened to be my friends, so I had a great time) School was cancelled last week and is tomorrow, because most of the schools lost power and haven't gotten it back yet. This is the second full week that school has been cancelled this year due to power outages. First there was the hurricane in the fall, now this storm. My friends are all saying that in the Spring we're going to have a big tornado that knocks out all of the power and puts us out of school for the week. I hope that doesn't happen, though I have to admit, it has been really nice getting a break!

Here are some pictures of what has happened to our world...remember that what you see is not just snow...but layers of ice as well!

Ok, now to Drake. We can't believe how he's almost a fourth done with his mission! This year has been going so fast! Well, unless you ask my mom. To her, this year is not going fast enough when she thinks of it in terms of Drake's mission, but it has been going way to quickly when I remind her that I'm about to graduate! Funny how that works.

27 Jan 2009

Querida Familia,

This week and this coming week are going to be full of divisions. I´m hardly ever going to be with my companion. He is the leader of the district and has to do a division with each member of our district. So, we did two last week and two this week. Also, he has to do the baptismal interviews and doesn´t want to lose the working time in our area, so we did another division this past week and we are probably going to do a few more this week. It is a little overwhelming having to guide this area since I don´t understand Castellano as well as he does and basically do anything else as well. But, I continue pushing through and I know that every little effort that I put in helps further the work of the Lord.

Yesterday I received another package from the Sweat family. I want to thank them. It may take some time before I can write the thank you letters because of all of the letters I need to respond to from last week. But thank you for the candy and letters. I especially liked the cashews. I´ve been missing eating nuts a bit. They really are quite expensive here, so they are really appreciated. Also, thank you Jessica for the address, that is what I needed.

Dad, I think you might want to try resending your e-mail, this is what I received,
“Dear Son,
This week will be your 6 month anniversary on your mission. I know you have
thought about it and how fast it has gone. We have missed you greatly, but
have also had much joy in your letters and the growth that has occurred. We
are very excited about the growth yet to come. While it is sad to look at
your picture on the mantel ever”

Yes, it is hard to believe that I´ve almost past through a quarter of my mission. The time really does seem to fly. It is interesting to view the changes that occurs little by little in this area and in myself. I still have a long ways to go though. Another year and a half. Yet I know that it will fly by without me knowing it. I´m beginning to understand better the eternity of time and the lack thereof. But yet the necessity to spend what little time we have in a meaningful manner. That there is no time to wait.

Next Monday is when the next transfer begins. I don´t know exactly what will happen. I had been thinking that I would be sent to another area, but right now it is a bit more in the air. This Wednesday, we went to the hospital in capital for the third time to pick up the results of my companion´s MRI. He has a few problems still and was told that he really shouldn´t be walking so much. It is making things worse. He only has 4 months in the mission left, so it could be possible that he will “die” working in the offices (we say die to mean end the mission and leave. I was born here in Villa Amelia.) If that happens, I will spend another transfer here helping another Elder get used to the area. If that doesn´t happen, Elder Spendlove will stay here as district leader and I will leave for another area. We just don´t know what the President and his wife will feel needs to be done.

Oh, I´ve been meaning to tell you something kind of funny. You know how Dad always talked about how his mission president put Elders with similar names together, like E´White with E´Black, or E´Adams with E´Eve? Well, in my zone there is an Elder Flores with and Elder Rosas! I guess my mission president has the same sense of humor.

I´m now trying to send you the photos of the baptism. The first is Hernan with his Aunt, Uncle, and younger cousins. The other is of him with us and his Uncle who baptized him.

This coming week, we are going to try to organize a rescate or a rescue of the priesthood in the ward. Next Sunday we are going to gather as many active priesthood holders as we can to go out and visit as many of the inactive priesthood holders as possible and give the message “Venga lo que Venga, Disfrútalo” I think is Come what may, Enjoy it. The attendance of women in the ward is good, but of men it is a bit depressing. Without priesthood, the church doesn´t work. With little, it doesn´t function well. So, we are trying to focus on bringing more priesthood holders into this ward so that there is a base that our investigators can find support. And over these past two transfers, we have been seeing the fruits of our labors, little by little. One family, a Dad with two sons who are of the age to prepare for missions have been returning and making improvements in the family. He is still frustrated that his sons don´t work and clean in the house like he wants them to. I think that might sound familiar to anyone who went through their teenage years. We have also seen another priesthood holder return. He is a bit disanimated because his wife has gone inactive and works constantly and his children don´t want to go to church with him. Although it is hard, he is beginning to come alone. My main worry is with Juan, the kid that I baptized my first transfer. He hasn´t been coming to church for a long while and when he did, only to sacrament meeting, so he has never yet received the Aaronic Priesthood. His family visits family members a lot on Sundays, so he has a hard time coming, but I hope he can to receive the support he needs.

I know that by small and simple means the Lord works His miracles. We have to be patient with Him and His children a lot, but if they take the steps of prayer and reading I know they can receive the witness that this work is indeed true. That this has the fullness of the Gospel to bring our hearts to great joy and consolation. And the only way to return to live in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Love,
Elder Ranquist