June 18, 2012

Hola, 

     Well, another day another dollar in Argentina. The time is flying by faster and faster everyday. I wake up in the morning and then, all of a sudden, I`m back in bed at night. Crazy. Anyway, not to try to break the surprise, but I am really curious as to which photo you will be using for my missionary plaque. Just curious. I`ll think of my favorite scripture this week. There are just so many! But, on Monday, you`ll have it for sure. I promise.

     Thanks for all the letters I got this week. I think a congratulations is in order. PAIGE CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! You have a job! Thats awesome! I`m happy now. Work your butt off and be the best employee there. You don`t want to let Bishop Polluck down. You`ll be awesome. 

     I really miss going to the temple. I haven`t been in more than a year and a half! I am so excited to go through the Buenos Aires Temple before I head out. It gets re-dedicated on the 9th of september. We found out that the missionaries will be attending the cultural event and we`ll be having a multi-mission meeting afterwards with Elders Eyring, Ballard, and Cristofferson. Look up the temply dedication on LDS.org. So, that will be pretty amazing. I`m excited, but now as I look forward to that, my time is going to go by faster here, and that stinks. 

     We`re a really cool family right? We have Thurgoods, Grassles...what more can you ask for? 

     Anyway, my week was pretty boring to tell you the truth. I went to capital today and talked with about 10 missionaries from the Buenos Aires North mission. It was nice to see other missionaries. I talked to a sister missionary who knew a sister in my zone in the MTC who served in the north mission, pretty cool. I enjoy living in an apartment with four elders. Its a lot of fun. But, my companion is the only non-american out of the four. We try to include him in everything, but I think he`s a little anti-social .We speak spanish in front of him and everything, but nothing. Hopefully, I can raise his ànimo a little bit. 

     We have good investigators but we`re really struggling with them getting to church. They always tell us that, yeah we`ll go to church, but then we show up at their house to take them and they either don`t answer, we hear people inside, or they come up with excuses. Is it that hard to dedicate three measly hours of your most un-eventful life to do something worthwhile? Maybe its too much to ask. But, we keep swimming. 

     My companion is really cool. He`s 24 and is a convert of 2 years. All of my companions are converts. Anyway, he loves to work and has a great testimony. He has a really hard time with the language, since he`s from Brazil, so he speaks Portugese. But, he`s learning and I`m learning a little portugese at the same time. So, I`ll be able to talk to Brother De Souza when I get home. 

     Anyway, thats pretty much it for my week. I hope that you are all okay and in high spirits and that you`re not too trunky for me, because I`m not. Haha I love you guys and I look forward to seeing you soon.   

Chau! 

Élder Garrett Brighton Rook

 Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

        "La mejor misión de todo el mundo..."

 

June 11, 2012

Hey Guys!

     Well, writing after quite an exhausting week. We had transfers this week and I am tired. But, today`s P-Day and I am looking forward to a rest.

     Thanks again for writing me, I always look forward to your letters. I got sent to an area called Merlo. My ward is called Merlo 2. Its about 10 minutes by train to my first area in Moreno. So, I`m back in Buenos Aires. Its really weird for me to be here after seven months out in the middle of nowhere. But, its okay because everything is cheaper here. So, that makes me happy. Its not such a dangerous area like my first or second area, but still a little sketchy. The people are great and the ward is awesome! There were seventy people in church on Sunday! I haven`t seen that many people in church my entire mission! Its a good strong ward and I look forward to working with them. My companion`s name is Marivelton Silva, and he`s from Brazil. He is still having a really hard time with his Spanish, since he speaks Portugese, but he`s a really cool guy. He`s been in the mission for five months now. I am living in a house with another companionship who is in the Merlo First Ward. They`re way cool missionaries, so it makes the experience fun.  

     Side note. You remember my convert Estiven who I always taked about all the time about a year and a half ago? Well, I found out that he is now the ward mission leader in my first ward, is leaving with the missionaries almost everyday, and is now preparing for the mission in a few months. I can`t express the joy that I felt when I found that out. It is truly rewarding to know that a convert of mine is genuinly progressing in the gospel, and now he`s going to do the same thing that I was doing. He`s going to mission prep institute here in Merlo 1, other ward. 

     I don`t know whats happening with my card lately. It is impossible for me in an ATM to take more out than is in the account, so how its overdrafting is beyond me. I apologize for the inconvinience and I wish that there was something I could do about it. Don`t worry about my birthday, its just another day. I`ll figure something out. We`ll have a pizza or something. 

     We were contacting in the streets yesterday and we stopped a family of six people. We were just going to do a normal contact and invite them to church. We found out that they live two blocks from the church and they were always curious about what we do there. We taught them a little bit about the Restoration and they told us to pass by their house. So, we`re going to be passing by this week. I hope they can come to church this week. There name is the Corvalàn Family.  

     Congrats to Gav for completing Junior year of High School. Now its just senior year. Think about it, you start school and then a month later, I`m home. What!!!! Crazy right? Its going to pass by so fast. But anyway...

     Paige, don`t move here. I love this country, don`t get me wrong. Its a great country to visit. I would never live here. And If I had to live here, I wouldn`t live in Buenos Aires. I would live somewhere in Cordoba or Mendoza or Bariloche. But, you could still have babies and get paid in where ever you live so if that`s what you want to do, go for it. I support ya.

  

     I sent you a video that we watched in a Zone Conference when we learned about teaching about the Book of Mormon. I love this video so much. Its epic. Turn up the sound, its even better. I want to make one just like it when I get back.

     Anyway, not much to write. How is my application going to U of I? Have you heard anything from Dr. Murphy? If you do, send him my deepest gratitude for all that he`s done for me. But, thats the way the cookie crumbles this week. So, I`ll talk to you guys next week. I love you! 

Élder Garrett Brighton Rook

 Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

        "La mejor misión de todo el mundo..."

Weekly Letter June 6, 2012

Hola a todos!

     Well, writing at the end of an interesting week this week. But, I´ll try to address the things that you sent to me first.

     It fills my heart with joy upon reading the story about Mom and Dad that you sent me. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and that He wants us to be happy. I know that he blesses us with everything we need, if we are willing to come halfway. Think of the story of the brother of Jared, who wanted to know how to light the inside of the ships. The Lord didn´t just pull out a bunch of stones and touched them and handed them over with zero effort. The Lord only extended his hand when the Brother of Jared had done everything in his power to solve his own problem, and the Lord did what the Brother of Jared could not do, that is, touch the stones and give light to the ships. The Lord only blesses us with the things that we cannot do, not with what we have inside of our power to do. What you shared is definitly a miracle and I appreciate you sharing it with me.

     I was reading a scripture the other day and I thought you would really like it. Its in Alma 37 where it talks about the Liahona. Maybe you could try to apply it in our daily life. Look and live and according to our faith, daily miracles are worked. Its a great scripture of which you´ll definitely enjoy.

     Also, can you do me a favor? Daniel is probably waiting for my letter, poor kid. I sent it and it got sent back to me. So, I´m going to type a letter and send it through you so he can get it instantly. Tell him I´m sorry and that he´ll be hearing from me next week.

     Congratulations are in order for Gavin and his Eagle. Now, Mom can buy that bumper sticker that says Easgle Scouts instead of Eagle Scout. I did a slide show for my Eagle. It was pretty cool. The Mac would do a sweet video, you can make a DVD and everything.

     Paige, just keep going. If you give up, then you will truly not get anything. Blessings are found in dilligence.

    

     On with my week:

     Well, I have interesting news. My companion and I have just suffered a ´White Wash´, or when both elders are taken out of the area. We had interviews with President last week and he said that he was thinking about doing it. I think its a good idea. That branch needs some new blood and I´ve been there for seven months. I´ve been there for their good times and bad times and I think they want to see a new face. So, we´re in the offices right now waiting for our transfer meeting to start. So, I don´t know where I´m going yet. I´ll let you know next week. I´m kind of nervous but I´m excited too. New ward, new members, new investigators, new companion. It´ll be interesting.

     I think I´ve decided that I want to go to U of I after I get home. I feel good about it. I would be close to home, I could work and I could probably work the summer camp in between school years. They pay well and they know me there. Who knows, we´ll see what happens. It´ll be awesome being with Stewie in school. Maybe, I could live in there house and we could go to school together until I get a car of my own. We´ll see. I´ll have three months to make plans. I´m excited to study. Not trunky....haha

     I know that this time will go by quickly, but I know that I´m where I´m supposed to be. On the mission, as a missionary preaching the Gospel and inviting others to come unto Christ through faith in him and his Atonement, Repentace, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. I would appreciate that you help me stay focused on the work as I wind down to the end of my time as a missionary. I would be eternally grateful for your words of encourgement and support. I love this work, I love the Gospel, and I love the Lord, and I want to serve Him with all my might until He says that my work is done. I love you guys and I look forward to be reunited with you again in the near future.

     I LOVE YOU!!!

Élder Garrett Brighton Rook

 Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

        "La mejor misión de todo el mundo..."

Hey Guys!

     Well, writing at the end of a pretty hard week to say the least. But, our spirits are high and we´re doing okay. Thanks for writing as always and I always look forward to your letters. First off, I´ll start with some housekeeping...

     Send my congratulations to Zak. Its so crazy that he´s already home! Tell him hi for me. Please send the wedding announcement when it happens okay?

     Its so crazy that Matt is getting married! I would never have pictured that! But, I hope the best for him and if you get a chance, tell him to send a letter my way, and I´ll send one back to him. Even though we don´t have a lot of contact, we were still really good friends a short time ago.

     Good luck to both of you, Mom and Paige on this job that you interviewed for. I hope it comes through. 

     By the way, I just saw a movie called 17 Miracles. Its about the Martin Handcart Company (?) and all the miracles they experienced. If you can find it, watch it. It will change the way you look at the pioneers forever. I couldn´t stop crying, nay, sobbing through the whole film. Its amazing.

     Nice pictures you sent me Gav. They rock. Keep it up!

     Okay for the interesting stuff:

     Okay, when you sent me that stuff about Prof. Murphy, it almost knocked me over, I couldn´t believe it. I figure that I don´t have anybody like that who´s asking for me at BYU, so maybe I should just go to U of I. Everytime I think about it, I feel better than going to BYU. Yeah, I´ll be around all my friends in Utah, well those I made in the mission, but I need to go where I can make it, and I think U of I would be the best option. Maybe I´ll go to NIC, or if I can, I´ll go straight to U of I depending if I have money or not. I want to go home and talk with Prof. Murphy about my options for work and tuition. Maybe he could put in a good word for me in some scholarships or something. Who knows? I would have zero problems working in other churches if it would help me with some financial support. Prof. Murphy is a great guy and I look forward to working with him. Send him my appreciation and deepest gratitude for what he´s doing for me. 

     Well, our week was a little tough. We didn´t have any investigators in church this week, but we keep pressing forward in the work. The Lord called us to have success right? So, hopefully some is on it´s way. We keep hoping and working. The Lord will be with us in all that we do if we just press on. 

     Our branch is getting worse by the day. I gave a talk in church about why there are so many inactive members in our ward. I felt completely inspired to give the talk. I suggested that we do our visits more often and bring, not invite, our inactive brothers to church. I shared some scriptures and kind of brought it down hard on them. Some members came up to me afterwards and got kind of angry at me for what I said. This branch is completely unwilling to work and does not appreciate the work we do here. I´m going to have a long talk with President Carter on thursday about it. Hopefully, we can come up with an option soon, so we don´t waste anymore time in this matter. 

     On the 25th of May, the nation celebrated El Día de la Patria. Its kind of like their traditional holiday, so they all dressed up and did a parade in the city center. I sent pictures to you so you could see what they did. There were probably about 200 people on horseback. it was a lot of fun. 

     Thank you for the extra money you sent me. I also suggest that through the jobs you guys are working, that you send me some money so I can bring stuff home for you guys. I want to bring some gifts home for you, but I don´t have money for that. About 50-100 bucks each would be awesome, then I could get you some really cool stuff. But, I still have four months left. So, there is still time. 

     Dad, don´t pay the application fee for BYU, because the application fee for U of I is 50 bucks. Please go on my application and fill out any missing information that I have. I need a specific date of graduation from high school and specific date of the day I took my SAT test. Also, you need to fill out the student consent form that is found on the last option of the application under Addition UG Information. Just go through the application and make sure that its all filled out correctly, or if anything needs editing. If you could do that, it would be awesome! My username is this email address and my password is Garrett1.

     Anyway, I´ve gotta go. I love you guys and I look forward to hearing from you next week. Remember, next week, P-Day is on Wednesday, so you won´t get a letter until then. Thanks for all you do for me and I look forward to seeing you soon! I love you guys!  

Élder Garrett Brighton Rook

 Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

        "La mejor misión de todo el mundo..."

Hey guys!

     Well, sorry first off for not having much time to write today. So, I´ll just cut to the chase. Thanks for writing me this week, as always. 

     Exciting news that you guys sent me with all the marriage going on. Its crazy! I´m going to be the only single guy when I get home! Haha

     Mom, I was looking on the NIC website. They have an entire list of jobs available at the campus. I don´t know if you need to be a student but its an option. 

     Congratulations to Gavin for the wedding gig! 500 bucks! Crazy! I wish I had 500 bucks. 

     I was thinking the same thing about working. I would have submitted my application for NIC, but they only have appliactions going on for as far as fall of this year. I need to wait a few months before applying. I do want to work up there in Post Falls. Maybe the city could put me up for something. I would work with Daniel in a minute, you guys know that. Plus, I speak Spanish, I´m sure I could find something up there. I´m getting really excited to study. Not trunky though. haha Speaking of trunky, I was in the offices last sunday and i saw that my last day in the mission is the 12th of October. Oh man! I have a date! I should be getting an iternerary soon, about a few weeks. 

     Paige, did you know that Michael Buble is married to an Argentine? Little fun fact...haha

     Gavin, please send me the picture with the cheerleader and we´ll see if Camille has anything to complain about haha. She´s just jealous. Next time you see Josh, say Hi to him for me okay? Tell him he´s my favorite boss. 

     I almost finished my application to U of I. Dad, if you could go on and make sure that everything is correct, that would be awesome. There is no fee for application. I´m just applying everywhere to see what options I have. I could even work with Prof. Mendez during my study in NIC. He´s a way cool guy and he knows me really well. I accompanied probably 80% of the competing basses during solo & ensemble. Maybe, we´ll see...

     Nothing much happening here in Argentina. Nothing really interesting. I had a really bad cold this last week that knocked my on my butt. I was so sick, but now I´m 110% better. Sorry, but I´ve gotta go. I sent some of my pictures from the Capital Trip last week like I promised. It was pretty cool. Saw a lot of cool stuff. Ate Subway for the first time in 20 months. Amazing...haha

     Anyway, I love you guys and I´ll talk to you next week. BTW, could you guys put one more dollar in my checking account so I can withdraw 300 pesos instead of 250? Because the machine won´t let me take out 300 pesos, because there´s not enough coinage on top of the main fund to pay the withraw fee. Understand? I know I don´t make much sense. Sorry. But, one or two dollars would be much appreciated. Thanks! 

     By the way Gavin! Could you send me some music from Beowulf when you get a chance? Also some more music from gears of war would be sick if you get some time. Thanks bud! 

Love you guys!

Élder Garrett Brighton Rook

 Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Oeste

        "La mejor misión de todo el mundo..."

Weekly Letter May 5, 2012

Hola familia!

     Thanks again for always writing me every week. I always look forward to receiving your letters! Thanks for the picture of you guys with Kim and Dwight, tell them that I said that I love them so much and look forward to seeing them soon!

     Well, writing after an interesting week. I´ll start with housekeeping first:

     Yeah, I know the Terells. They´re a sweet family. Jeremy´s a stud. I´m glad to hear that they´re doing well. Tell them I said hi.

     Congrats to gavin on his placement in the competition. 3rd Place! So crazy! I remember when I went to Boise. It was a sweet trip. I think I placed 6th in the tenor division. I can´t wait until we can sing something together. Like in the Ward Christmas Party. Haha

     I sent a note to Drew, so that´s already done. Tell him I said hi if you see him. 

     I guess we´ll talk more about whats going on when we call each other.

     Okay, with the branch, to satisfy all of your curiosity. It all started with the Quorum President. He has been behaving terribly because he always had talked bad about our Branch President to other members. So, we said enough and called the councelor to our mission president in charge of our district. He said he would take care of it. So, they spoke the following sunday and our qp left angrily. Then, our Branch President started talking badly about our investigators and then refusing to work with us. So, we were working without support whatsoever from our branch. Our investigators started to stop coming to church. The level of success that we were having started to go through the floor. Our branch was having almost thirty people every week. Then this happened, and the attendance went from almost thirty people to fifteen people from one sunday to the other. It rippled through the organizations and caused a great effect on the members here. Luckily, no investigators were hurt by it, so our rep with the non-members wasn´t effected. The leaders have had interview after interview, and even talking about making an elder...hint hint...the branch president here until all this passed over. But, we still haven´t seen a change, nor verdict from the leaders. Hopefully something changes soon, or this branch is going to, frankly, die. So, thats whats going on right now in Chacabuco. Hopefully it ends soon. 

     On sunday, I´ll probably call you guys at about one or two o´clock. Earlier no. So, be ready for a call at about that time. Sorry for the short letter, but I frankly do not know what to write about, given we´re going to talk to each other in less than a week. I look forward to our conversation. Mom and Dad, 20.00-25.00 would be perfect. I really appreciate all you do for me and I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for the great parents who raised me. Thanks for everything and we´ll talk to you soon!  

Hey Guys!

     First off, apology for not writing last week. So wednesday, Elder Cancino and I head out of our area at about 9:00am to go to Buenos Aires. We showed up in Buenos Aires at about 1:00pm to go to our transfer meeting. The transfer meeting starts and I get a new companion. I´m still in Chacabuco. My new companion´s name is Elder Walker from Arizona. Finally an American companion! Anyway, we leave our area at about 6:30pm. But, on the way, the bus breaks down in Moreno and we´re there for about an hour, waiting for the next bus. We leave from there and head to our area, which is about another three hours of travel. We get to our area at about midnight. We go to sleep and had to leave on another bus at 8:30 in the morning to go do a baptismal interview in another area three hours away. We get there at about noon and spend the day with the elders there. But, we had to work in our area on friday, so we had to wake up at 2:00am on friday morning to catch the bus at 2:50 heading back to our area. It stopped in Chivilcoy and we slept in the zone leader´s apartment until 6:30 and we leave on another bus at about 9 to go back to our area. So, my week was really interesting. Sorry for not writing but thats why I didn´t write. Its not because I didn´t want to, because I did, but we just didn´t have any time whatsoever. But, you´ll be getting a nice long letter today.

     Anyway, how are you guys this week? It sounds to me that you´ve had a good week. Thanks for being patient with me with me not writing you and everything. But, anyway lets cut to the chase. 

     Send my congratulations to Kiera for her performance in Junior Miss. Junior Miss was always fun to go to. I miss High School a lot. Anyway, moving on...

     That´s really too bad about Brother Porter. Makes me sad. But, at least he´s in a better place. You just never know when your number is going to be called I guess.

     Hey I saw the prom pictures. Michael Buffaloe looks like a Wachiturro. Look it up on the internet and you´ll see what I mean. They´re really retarded.

     Well, I am happy about the class in Florida. But, I will be still studying in BYU because I feel that I need to go there. I hope you guys like humidity. I´ve heard its worse than here, and I almost died last year. 

      

     Well, now with whats going on here. So, we´ve been having some really difficult things going on in my branch. There are major problems with the leadership here and there may be some releases going on soon. We´ll know more next week about whats going on. I´ll let you know what´s going on when we call each other on the 13th.

     My new companion is a stud. He´s got 13 months in the mission and we have a lot of fun together. My last companion was really sad to leave this area. But, he´ll like his next area. I started right next to where he is now. 

     It finally starting to get cold here. Today isn´t so cold but its been quite chilly the last week or so. I´ve been having to use my jacket now. Yay! Its supposed to rain all week this week which will make it hard for proselyting. Yay...

     So, on the 13th, I´ll be calling you guys for Mothers Day. I´m so excited! Although, it seems I just barely got off the phone with you guys! Time is passing so fast! I can´t believe it.

     I´m afraid that I don´t have much to write this week. Given that we´re going to be talking to each other in a little under two weeks, I don´t have much to express, given that if I express everything, we won´t have much to talk about. But, I will keep you posted on the branch and how its going when more inormation is made availabe to give. The Mission President has asked me to keep the majority of this on the down low for right now, so sensitive information isn´t out in the air.

     I love you guys and I always look forward to your letters every week. Hve a great week and I´ll talk to you soon!

Chau!