A New Companion!

Hey family! :)

So I have a new companion! On Tuesday was our p-day, and we basically just visited people from the ward since Elder Bravo was leaving everyone. So that was neat :) The next day was Wednesday and that is when everyone leaves! So a lot of good Elders left our zone, it was weird saying bye to them! I said bye to Elder Bravo, my trainer, and then he was gone! So I'm not being trained anymore! I guess you can call me a real missionary now :) haha.

After Elder Bravo left I waited all day in the terminal for my new companion with one of the Zone Leaders. He came that night with a few other Elders that were new to the zone. Idk If I said this before, but they have big plans and big hopes for the Venado Tuerto area, they want it to become a stake! Right now it's only a branch. They changed a lot of things, like the counselors in the district, as well as some Branch Presidents, including ours. They combined a lot of mission areas and changed a lot of companionships. So a lot of change and a lot of excitement! haha.

Well my new companion came! His name is Elder Sheen, and he is from Idaho. He has been here in Argentina for almost a year and a half. This is the first time he has ever been Senior companion as well. He is a really great Elder! At first I thought he was a little quirky haha, but he is really simply true to the gospel and has a testimony. Idk why but at first I seemed a little bothered by him. Maybe it was his quirkiness or the change. There were some differences that I noticed and some odd things I didn't know how to react to haha. But he was talking about one of his old companions and how our first thoughts of a new companion will make a big impact on the whole time together. And right after he said that I thought shoot... haha I have a lot to change with that! And idk what happened but right after that, I found out he is a freaking funny guy haha. Like he talks a ton, it's actually really impressive! He knows so many random facts in great detail, that I have no problem asking him for random information, and our conversations are so fun! I remember just the other night we were talking about crazy dumb stuff some missionaries have done in this mission, and then it somehow ended with Phineas and Ferb and how awesome the movie was haha. From how he was explaining it, it sounds like a pretty funny movie :) It has been really great to be with Elder Sheen! Being able to talk to him, and not having the huge language barrier get in the way, has been really nice, and I think It was something I really needed. Elder Bravo and I didn't talk much and it was a huge bummer. I feel like it affected my personality and made things a little more difficult. Since the only thing I could talk to was my journal :P But being able to converse with Elder Sheen has really been a blessing lately.

At times I feel like we are both junior companions :P Sometimes he'll tell me to do something so that if it goes bad he can blame it on me. So I don't think he's quite used to being a senior companion haha. Something interesting he said was 'Idk why I'm senior companion or District Leader, and I don't know if I want it. But God does so I guess I can do it' haha. He has some simple 'God is in control' testimony that's pretty admirable. We speak about the same Spanish, which surprised me. I can learn a lot from him as my companion :) sometimes I forget his name, and the way I remember is I think (crazy actor guy all over the news before I left... charlie sheen... Elder Sheen! haha I think it's funny :)

We have a few investigators that we have been working with a lot, but we need a lot more., So we've been contacting a ton haha. Every day almost all day. That's been our week of work together so far, trying to find more investigators, through references or contacting. I think the first week is always the hardest :) So it should pick ùp!

I love you all so much, I feel so happy when I hear about you! Like how everyone plays soccer, even Deklan! Sounds like everyones' teams are kicking bums and doing good :) you are all in my prayers, every day.

Les amo

Elder Alek Clubb

Transfers today!

Hey family!! :) Well on Monday we had P-day and we played a lot of soccer!! Which has been so great :) I love that so much! I have a lot of fun with that. On Tuesday we had interviews with the mission president in Pergamino. So we traveled a few hours as a zone and we got there in the afternoon. There was a lot of waiting haha, but before he talked to us as a group about our zone and how bummy it has been, and how we need to do specific things in order to change and be better. It was awesome!! Whenever President Giuliani talks I want to listen and do what he says haha. He is really good at pointing out what needs to change and be serious, but also be loving and humorous. It has been really neat to get to know him a little better :) After that we just went back home. We ended up getting back late so we didn't do anything that day :P haha but it was a great day! This week was the birthday of Danilo! Who we baptized a few weeks earlier. He's a stud! We weren't able to do much for him because he´s been studying a lot for school, but he was able to go to a grill hangout sports thingy with the young men in the branch. So it was really good! So pretty neat story, remember Jose Luis? He was the number one boxer in Argentina at one point! And his nickname is chocolate! I have no idea why haha but that's pretty cool :) Well his sister´s husband died. I guess his sister has been receiving the lessons from other missionaries in our zone for a while, but her husband wouldn't let her be baptized. SO the bad news is he died... BUT the good news is that she was baptized! and that made a really good impression on Jose Luis haha, and he wants to be baptized. Problem is he is living with someone and they have to get married first. But it will work out! haha He´s a really big dude! Like Rocky Sylvester Stallone big before he started doing steroids haha. On Friday we went over to a members house and helped them prepare food for the baptism of their daughter. It was really fun! I cut a lot of onions and I was bawling my eyes out the whole time haha. They felt so bad for me and kept telling me to stop haha but I kept doing it! I mean it's service right? even if it's a little cruel and unusual :) My fingers smelled like onions for days! The baptism the next day was really cool. This family is awesome! We've become pretty good friends with this family! So it was a lot of fun to be able to see the baptism. A lot of people came! She had a lot of friends and their families come that aren't members, so references woo!! haha but all of them were for missionaries in other areas hahaha Well crazy stuff, like 3 missionaries went home from our zone! The zone is going to change a lot, like they're getting rid of at least half of the missionaries here and replacing them. They even combined areas, so there are less missionaries in the zone. They have some big plans here, they want Venado to be a stake, which should be awesome! We saw the changes and it's so different! Elder Bravo is going to be a zone leader in Santa Fe! Which is pretty neat :) I can tell he's pretty excited for that haha. I only sa'w my companions name, which of course I just forgot :P haha but he isnt Latino! Which will be really different, but at the same time pretty nice :) Well I love you my family :) It's so great to hear from everyone! I hope all is awesome!! :) You are all in my prayers! Les amo, Elder Alek Clubb

A Great Week!

Hey family!! :D

Hello! How is everyone doing? :) How was your spring break with the cousins in Reno? I heard it was really fun!! :D

Well last week on P-day, Elder Bravo and I ran into this guy who was an investigator of the hermanas, and he was progressing really well and even had a date for baptism this week which he was ready for! We talked to him, and he was supposed to move to Rosario, which is why the hermanas lost contact with him, but he couldn't or something, so he´s living in Venado Tuerto right now!! So after we talked to him we called the hermanas and they were really excited :) So he´s going to be baptized next week! That was pretty neat, he has a sick beard!

Well, we worked really hard, and met some pretty neat people! We have this reference who accepted a lot of what we said, and he was excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! That's always really cool to hear haha.

I got a haircut! I think it´s pretty short :P You know me haha I prefer it a little longer, but it´s nice I suppose :)

The biggest news of this week is that Rocio was baptized yesterday! haha it was awesome! Elder Bravo baptized her :) It was a really neat experience. I love seeing the smiles on people's faces when they come out of the water. For the rest of the day they just seem so happy and different. Excited to follow Jesus Christ and to make this covenant :) It´s super cool to be able to see these changes and the pure desire to do what is right in these kids. Luckily, the water was a lot warmer :) she was really worried about that haha. She kept mentioning it all week when we would pass by her, after what happened to her brother! I still feel pretty bad about that :P Oh wow! I didn't know this but I guess right after Danilo´s baptism his scooter thing broke down, and was trying to fix it and some cop thought he was trying to steal it. So they searched him and were talking to him for a long time. RIGHT after his baptism! A lot of members like to joke that right after his baptism he got hit with this bummy thing :P I think he´s doing pretty good now! At least, that´s what I think happened :P Spanish is still pretty iffy at times for me. It could be completely different what happened! I have actually been going into Spanglish mode haha, where I will be talking to someone Latino and say something in English, believing that I am actually speaking Spanish, but they just look at me really confused. haha that has happened to me quite a few times actually this week and we both end up feeling really confused and awkward :P It´s awesome.

I guess there are a lot of Jehovah´s Witnesses in the area, because a ton of people confuse us with them. They always say, you came by yesterday, leave me alone! Or something and Elder Bravo and I are like... we were somewhere completely different haha. We saw a bunch one day contacting. It was like deja vu, they were in pairs, even wearing some missionary clothes!

Well Elder Bravo and I watched "The Emma Smith" movie last night, and wow!! What a great movie! I hadn't seen it before! I really enjoyed it. She had great faith :) I love that Smith family, I always feel excited when I hear their stories.

I met a hardcore drunk guy the other day. He smelled horrible and was saying random devil stuff and really, really slurred. He couldn't focus his eyes and kept grabbing my hand and pulling me close so he could say something really drunk and I would just say, "Oh que bueno", and let go haha. It was really weird and I even felt sick afterward :/ We´re going to come back to talk to his grandma later. It was just such a bizarre experience!

Well I love you guys!! I hope and pray you are all doing amazing! :)

Les amo,

Elder Alek Clubb

Happy Easter!

Hey family!!

A TON has happened this past week haha. First of all, how was your Easter? In Argentina they don't do much, just eat a lot of chocolate eggs and bunnies :) so I had some chocolate which was good!

Well, last week after we had P-day, we went on exchanges, and I was with Elder Luna, one of the Zone leaders. There has been a lot of contention in the zone, between companionships, toward the zone leaders and especially between them. So they kept putting off the day when we change back as companionships. I was only with my companion for 2 full days this week :P It was terrible. I didn't realize that was against the rules, but the Assistants called and we talked about some problems that have been going on and why we were together for like 4 days haha. It was pretty rough honestly. Hard to work, hard to really do anything. And there was this atmosphere of contention which really sucked. The spirit seemed to be pretty vacant this week :P But We met some really cool people, and prepared Danilo for his baptism!! It was awesome!!

We had Danilo's interview on Friday, and there he said that he would like to have me do it :) I think he chose me because 'Im a goofy, skinny, white guy from North America with the name 'Clubb' hahaha. But I had the opportunity to baptize Danilo :) He's an awesome kid. So we had our first baptism! And the branch got its first baptism in almost a year! That was a pretty neat accomplishment :) haha It was so funny, on Saturday we went and prepared the baptismal font. Idk what happened, but when I got into the water first, It was FREEZING cold haha. I guess the hot water wasn't working... :P I was shivering as I waited for him. And when he came, he just talked about how the water froze him and froze his bones haha. I started and I messed up, and when I started over, I saw Danilo like squatting in this ready position with a determined look on his face. Haha!! I laughed so hard haha!! I was laughing so hard in the font with everyone watching, it was horrible! I finally contained myself and he was baptized :) I felt bad for him, I mean he doesn't really know much! The water is cold, I'm laughing in the font next to him... haha. But when we got out, I put my arm around him and asked how he felt. And he said he felt really happy and gave this huge smile :) At that moment, I felt the happiest I have ever felt in my entire mission. Idk how to describe it. He is a great kid and wow, it was an amazing experience to be able to baptize him.


So this whole week was pretty tough, in a strangely different way haha. But that Saturday was the best way to end a week :) The next day, on Easter he was confirmed a member of the church :) And his sister is going to be baptized this week as well! She just missed a Sunday, so we had to put it off a week. But she´s excited as well! And Danilo may be able baptize her!! That would be even cooler to see :) I hope it works out!

Some good news, during this week while I was with Elder Luna (he´s from Mexico), I feel like I've improved a ton in Spanish! I feel like 'Ive been plateaued for a while, I guess I don't talk much with Elder Bravo :/ but I've seen a pretty big improvement with my Spanish, and the sister missionaries noticed and said a lot about it haha. I still lack a lot, but it´s been pretty neat to see that :)

Oh hey, April 6th! Happy Birthday Church! and Happy Birthday Jesus! It's neat to know the day our Savior was born. I love Him :)

Oh gosh, some random guy opened the door without any pants on, and got mad that we interrupted him while going to the bathroom. It was so weird hahaha.

Hey I heard about Elder Dodge! Thanks Dad for the email!! WOW I had no idea he was in the MTC still! What a stud! But that's such a cool experience to go to Tennessee :) That's where the Williamson's (his relatives) are! One of my teachers in the MTC who served in Rosario, said that he went to Tennessee before he came to Argentina, and he said that that was one of the greatest experiences of his mission. I always thought that would be really cool to go somewhere in the USA before going foreign! Just to have those two experiences. Elder Dodge seems to be doing awesome! 'Id like to hear more every once in a while! In his letter he seems like a really prepared missionary.

President Giuliani pretty much ripped apart all of the leaders because our baptisms have been super low lately. So he raised the goals to be really high! But I'm actually a little excited, because we can do it! Elder Bravo is really excited as well. So we´ll see :)

I love you guys! Thanks so much for everything you do for me :) It´s so awesome when I get to hear from you :) you are all in my prayers every day.

Les amo,

Elder Alek Clubb

PS-Alek got electrocuted this morning cleaning the bathroom...this is the culprit! the shower heating element!! I'm thankful the Lord is watching over his missionaries!

 

Conference Weekend!!

Dear Family!

How is everyone doing? I hope everyone is awesome!! So how was Dakota`s birthday?? And "Happy Birthday" yesterday, Randy!

 I haven't had much time to read while I'm here so I just print off the emails to read them. Thanks so much everyone for letting me know how you are all doing!! It`s really great to hear from you :) We got letters this week! and I got the package!!! Thanks so much mom!! Wow that was so awesome, everything was like perfect. I love the candy and the Peanut Butter! Thanks for the Flash drive :) I haven't been able to see anything on it, or hear the music, but I'm trying to put it on my ipod so I hope it works!! But I love everything you sent :) Thanks so much!

So it was pretty funny, last week after p-day ended, we walked out of our pench to see this guy on a scooter getting ticketed by a cop. And then he did something that 'Ive thought about doing while in his situation, he just took off hahaha he grabbed his little scooter and was running with it. Then he just dropped it and ran while the cop was chasing him haha idk why but it was really funny to me!

It`s starting to get really cold here!! Every morning is pretty rough. The worst part is our little bucket shower broke! The plug doesn't warm up the water. I took a couple of freezing showers in the morning :P So, we've been going to a neighboring pench like 5 blocks away, which has been really nice!

Wow Conference!! I missed the Saturday afternoon session but was able to see all of the others. I haven't paid as much attention to previous Conferences as I did to that one. I learned so much and it was a huge blessing, I learned so much and felt like I lot of talks helped me, and seemed to apply really well to me. Some talks were so powerful, Elder Eyring's talk on Saturday morning was like a direct answer to some of my prayers. I learned so much!! What were some of your favorite talks?

Something really cool is that one of our investigators, Danilo, came to Conference!! He`s technically come to two Church meetings! So he`s going to be baptized!! His baptism is scheduled for this Saturday. I'm really excited for that! He`s an awesome kid, we taught the Word of Wisdom and he would drink alcohol and do stuff, but he's stopped. He really understands the importance of the gospel and especially the importance of the Spirit, and to constantly have that guide in his life. And we didn't even teach him that, he just seems to understand everything.

Also something pretty neat was that President Giuliani (my mission president) came to watch Conference with us on Sunday!! Which was really cool. He actually came because all of the missionaries went to priesthood session when he deliberately told everyone not to. So he came to reprimand everyone, it was awesome :) I think he's so cool. I got to talk to him in between sessions personally and talk to him about some difficulties. We talked for a while and he really helped me a lot in a loving way.

I was so engrossed in all of the Conference talks in a way I've never been before. It seemed like Conference was way too short this time. I really enjoyed them all so much. I hope everyone felt that same Spirit I did!

I love you all so much! I miss you guys. Is there anything I can do for you? I'm still here to talk to :) just a little further away than usual.

I love you! You are all in my prayers every day :)

Elder Alek Clubb