Woo!

Hello Family Clubb! :)

How are you all doing? I hope you are all doing great :) Another week here, and this was the quickest week I've had so far! Last P-day in the evening, we went out to work and visited an investigator that lives on the other side of our area, which is dang far! haha. She keeps a lot of the Catholic traditions in her life, but she goes to our church almost every Sunday. We taught the first lesson and we explained it really well I felt like. I'm excited with her, because she is so humble and just wants to do God's will, and she has great faith!

We had divisions twice this week! One I was with Elder Nelson, he came in my group! He's a really cool guy! The other day I was with Elder Woodward, the Zone Leader. Both days were really great, we worked really hard and got a lot accomplished! In fact this week we've really improved in our weekly stats. The divisions were so great! BIG problem though, all of my food ran out after them! Like my food for the week was devoured by these guys haha! It made me laugh.

We're still trying to find more investigators, we really need more! That family (I think I mentioned them last week) that we found, We've been teaching them this week. They are really great! The parents aren't married though... that happens a lot. They've been together 18 years since he was 18! What?! haha They'll get married though, they are just living their culture now and don't know God very well. And that is really neat that we get to help them get to know their Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ :) When people accept and keep commitments, and feel the blessings of God and try to do His will, it's just the coolest thing to be involved in that! It's the best! Well this is a pretty big family, like they have at least 5 kids above the age of 8. I always get so excited for this family!

I love study times :) Studying the language (I need all the help I can get! I've lost a lot of it!), and personal studies are my favorite! I've been studying in Mosiah, in the later chapters, lately. I have learned that in almost every single chapter, I can find something in there about my life now, that can help me personally. I have received many answers to my prayers by reading the scriptures. And it's usually something that helps me get back on my feet when I feel like I've been knocked down. I learn so much every time I read! I have also been reading the Conference talks! We finally got them haha, and boy, I just love Conference. These are people inspired of God! Isn't that so neat??

My comp and I found out some really tough news this week... That really nice lady who fixed my sweater and gave us food? She was attacked by her dog last week. The dog broke her arm, cut her face up pretty bad, she was bitten all over, her face, arms, legs. She's an elderly lady and this almost killed her.... It was so hard to see her. We went to the hospital to visit her. Her face was swollen, I almost didn't recognize her. We gave her a blessing and the Spirit was so strong. She has such great faith, I believe with all my heart that she fought so hard and with her faith, she was blessed. She keeps smiling and refuses to blame God for this, but keeps her head up and praises and loves Him. I'm so grateful for her example! It's incredible to see :)

So I washed my clothes! All by hand! Boy that was tough haha it took me over two hours to do it! My last area, we had a member wash our clothes! So I've learning a lot haha!

Bueno mi familia, los amo muchisimo. I hope you know how much I love you and that I'm always here for you all. I'm learning so much from my mission, it's pretty incredible actually. I think the greatest thing I learn, every day, is no matter how much I do, I still feel it isn't enough to give. I'm overwhelmed by the love of my Heavenly Father for me and His children. I grow in moments of weakness and stress. I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I know that He is my Savior. I pray so hard every night that each of you understand this great sacrifice of our Savior. This church is true! :D

Your buddy,

Elder Alek Clubb

Week 2 in Pergamino!

Hola mi familia!

It's P-day again! This week was a lot better than last week :) The 'uncomfortableness-thingy' is going away and I feel more accustomed here. Last week for P-day we went and played basketball and soccer, it felt great! It was great to go out and play some sports again! haha. I was sore all week from that! My muscles aren't used to doing things like that! Which is really sad haha, I'm losing it!

This week all of the leaders had a meeting in Rosario, so my companion as well as Elder Sands went to Rosario, and so I was with Elder Chatelain on divisions that day! It was so fun, he's a really cool guy. He has a tranfer less than me. It was my first time being with someone younger than me! It was a pretty neat experience :) We found a really great family in my area. We actually went by to visit him, my companion and I. He has gone to church with his family before and talked to the missionaries. When we found him though he was drunk and wasn't making a lot of sense :P but it sounds like he went through a rough childhood. He doesn't love his wife, they just fight the whole
time. I am excited to teach him (when he's sober haha), because I know the gospel can help him. It will help him! It can strengthen his relationship with his family, it can remove guilt and he'll feel closer to God.

My companion and I programmed (scheduled a lesson with) a kid the other day! He's like 10, I think, his parents are members but aren't active. They are really supportive of their kids though, he and his sister go to church every Sunday with their grandparents. We just need to teach him so that he can understand the importance of baptism better :)

I love the fact that I love soccer. It instantly gets so many people's attention and we have great conversations with it!

Wow so Friday was a crazy day haha. In the morning we cleaned the church. There was an elderly lady that asked us to help her with that, and then after invited us to lunch. She even fixed my sweater with the
big holes in them! That was really nice. One of her brothers asked me if I knew any Japanese (I said I was a little Japanese) and so I said 'hello, my name is Alek'. He asked me to translate and so I did, but in English haha. I've never had to translate anything other than English and Spanish! So the guy was confused but the other elders
explained haha, and I didn't realize it until after we left! It made me laugh haha.

Friday was tough, we walked all over the place and got a lot of contacts, but nobody let us in all throughout the day. We even got into the Villa! First Villa experience! But we weren't having much luck contacting there. At the last house, this guy came out trying to look all tough and he had a gun. The gun was really old, like Pirates of
the Caribbean era haha. We just went on introducing ourselves and we shared a little of our message with him and asked if we could go in. AND he didn't let us, haha. I think he tried to scare us but we got a good laugh out of the Villa guy with a gun.

We heard some tough news the other day, my comps baptism before I got here has been smoking. She's 12 years old :/ Her parents came to us for help. Which is crazy because the dad doesn't want anything to do with us, but he was really humbled and asked if we could help. It was really neat to see these parents, who basically lived a life of regret, now humbled and willing to do anything to help their child. Her parents really love her. I can't even imagine the pain of a parent when a child goes through hell, or chooses it:P I only feel a little of it when investigators or members do that. I'm so sorry for every time that was me.

I love the guys we live with haha we get along so great and laugh so hard, I haven't laughed harder my whole mission as much as I have here haha.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad! Yesterday right? Thank you for everything, Dad. :) I love you. You're a rockstar! Thanks for your example of hard work and priorities, of love and selflessness. You've always done everything for me and I am so grateful for your example. I could always count on you reading your scriptures every night, and you were always so excited to share what you found and learned. I have a love for the scriptures because of this. I hope you had a great Fathers Day, Dad! If I can be a missionary like you were, I know I'm succeeding. Thank you, Mom, for your example as a missionary as well :) I love you both!

Thank you all for writing me and letting me know how you're doing! I hope you're all having a great summer! You're always in my prayers. The church is true, and I know that God knows our potential. And we can reach that potential, if we turn to Him. Because with Him, we can do all things. I have a testimony of that.

Los amo,

Elder Alek Clubb

Pergamino!

Hello my Family! :D

Wow this keyboard sucks haha so if my letter is all whacky, it's because the keys are pretty stuck!

Well, my first week in Pergamino! This has felt like a long week haha, well transfer week usually does! That day on P-day, my last day in Venado Tuerto, right after I got off the computer, I paid the money and the guy I paid said that there a guy who had a qestion for us. SO I go over and talk to this guy while everyone was still waiting for me haha. He asked who we were, and I talked about how we're missionaries, and I explained how this is our P-day, when we get to write home to our families because we're so far from home, and how we teach about the restored
gospel of Jesus Christ. Gosh this guy was so awesome, and I got to talk to him for a little while, and answer his questions. I asked if we could stop by, and he said 'yeah! Can you come over today?!' Oh boy I wish we could've stopped by him that day :) He lived in the ZL's area, so I gave the reference and we carried on with our day. and that was my last contact in Venado Tuerto. I wish I could teach him and see him progress, but I'm glad I was able to talk to him, and share a little bit of the gospel with him on my last day.

I'm not going to lie. It was really really hard to leave and to say goodbye to everyone I've come to love in Venado. I called some members, stopped by a few and said goodbye. The hardest part was them freaking out that I was leaving! I had people giving me gifts, grabbing me and telling me not to go, crying, screaming, even some said they'd call President to keep me haha. People were calling me that night to say goodbye until late. They have been some of my closest friends here, and we've shared laughs and stories and felt the spirit together. I miss them! I'm so grateful I was able to get to know them! The hermanas have also been some of my best friends here, and they are always too nice haha, but they said a lot of nice things before I left. It's like I left a mini home :P another home away from home. I love that place and those memories, the people, my awesome comp, and lunch's! haha :)

Then I went to Pergamino! I met my new comp, His name is Elder Petersen. He's a super cool guy! But if I could describe him in one word, it would be: trunky. haha He just really misses home and likes to talk about it a lot. It rubs off sometimes and it just makes me sad :P But I really love him, he and I are pretty close already, and I
love the people I've already met here :) We work, and he really loves the people here. He has a 40 year old girlfriend with two kids, and he is pretty open about that haha. Erin, that's how it's done ;)

We listen to a lot of christmas music! We love it, and with the cold it fits right in! We live in a 4 man pench! My last one just had 2 haha, but this one is awesome! The other elders are really cool, Elder Sands from Virginia and Elder Chatelain from Salt Lake. Theyre a lot of fun haha. Elder Sands was a Jew! He got baptized then right after went on a mission haha, reminds me of my old man, minus the Jew part. :)   Elder Chatelain is super funny, I love hanging out with them.

This past week was the coldest week since the last year :P It was so cold! We did a service project and helped move bricks in the morning, but wow it was so cold!! People weren't kidding when they talked about the bone chilling, humid cold that just sinks through your clothes! I don't like the cold haha! Bu they were really nice and gave us some food and malta to warm us up :) I love doing service!

I've met a lot of really awesome people already :) Some live in very humble circumstances. There are some houses made of bricks with just tin on top, and they have a satellite dish on top. It's like WTH?? haha. We even have some villa! I'm excited to go there and check it out? Do you know what a villa is? I saw a dog get ripped apart
(literally) by a group of other dogs. Even the dogs have gangs!

I met a great old man the other day, and I've figured out that that is Joel Drake when he gets old haha! He cuts hair now, but he used to be a big singer here. He just sits and sings, and he is so good! He's always full of energy and making random noises and cracking jokes and always laughing. It's so entertaining!

EVERY person I have met here has told me I look like I'm from Argentina. That is no exaggeration haha. They all get really surprised when I say I'm from the United States! I think it's really funny :)

I pray for you all with all my heart. Please don't allow contention to interfere with the spirit of our family. I hope you all recognize all of the many blessings that we have :) We've got a pretty kicking family!

Los amo, mi querido familia,

Elder Alek Clubb

Last P-day in Venado Tuerto.

 Hello family!! :D

So I got some interesting news yesterday! I'm leaving Venado Tuerto! Elder Bravo (my old companion) called me and spoiled the news for me hahaha. I'm going to Pergamino! Which is a little to the east from here I think. I have mixed feelings about leaving. Like I'm excited to meet more people and have new experiences! But boy, I've really fallen in love with these people here! I love the members and I feel like we have such a good friendship. I was hoping I'd stay a little longer just to be able to be with these people more. I've grown to really love my companion and our Zone, and I loved seeing how all the investigators were progressing. But it'll be good! They have the best alfajors in Argentina in Pergamino, so that'll be a lot of fun ;)

Last P-day we hung out with the hermanas in the district for our last normal P-day, it was so fun! We just ate a lot and went on the playground and stuff. They have this awesome ice cream and factura place here! And we found out about it my last week here! Dang haha but it's really good.

Something really cool I decided to do! Since Katherine's birthday is coming up, I was thinking about birthdays and decided to look up the birthdays of the members that are coming up! And so this past week we've been stopping by all the members who had their birthdays this week. It's been so rewarding to go out and just say 'happy birthday' to these people. They would all get so excited that the missionaries remembered their birthday :) One time we stopped by a little girl who turned 11, and we bought her a pineapple! It was random haha but it was fun. Her mom got so excited about the pineapple! haha! Then the girl saw it and was like oh... haha. I don't think she wanted a pineapple :P But I love visiting the people for their birthdays :)

  (If you are familiar with the TV show "Psych" then you will recognize this pose with the pineapple!)

We've just had so much success lately with less active members. People that we've been visiting for months, who have been inactive for years, have been showing up to church! The ward has been working so hard to fellowship these members and it's been a miracle to see the growth that the ward has had! On Sunday we had 85 people in church, which was the same as last week! One member has been going for over a month straight! He even blessed the sacrament and has a calling in the church, which he is so excited for! It's been so amazing to see these people :)                                                                               

Yesterday we had a little fiesta with the hermanas with some of their investigators! It was awesome! I had so much fun! I was hoping to see Danilo and Rocio there (our baptisms) but they couldn't make it! They lived just next to the sisters. I don't know if I said this but they left and I haven't seen them at all! They moved to the hermanas ward. But they're doing really good :)

I'm trying to catch up on journal writing haha. I'm a little behind. I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It helps me look forward eternally. I have found such great strength and peace from the atonement of my Savior. I know He lives.

I love you guys so much! I wish I could help in every way possible, be good to your brothers and sisters and kids and spouse :) then we'll be happy!

Los Amo,

Elder Clubb