Letters to Connor~

Connor's Apartment

Hi friends & family~

Connor's birthday is coming up on May 24th, if you would like to send Connor a letter I know it would be the best birthday present he could get...... hand written letters are better than gold to him! 

Connor's Address~
Elder Connor Jamon Cushman
Argentina Rosario Mission
Blvd Argentino 7935
2000 Rosario
Santa Fe
Argentina

If you would like to send him a letter but don't want to have to deal with mailing internationally, you could send the letter to me, I would be happy to mail it to him.
  
Lisa Cushman
4435 Beckwith Place
Cumming, GA 30041

FYI~ at this time Connor has told me NOT to mail any packages, he will NOT receive them.  

Thanks for ALL the love and support you have shown Connor as he has been in Argentina!

Week 19~

This week was super good. My comp and I get along really well, we are pretty different but in a good way, I think we complement each other really well in our teaching and in our personalities, which is a little different from Elder Saez because we were really similar..

This week we were very busy helping members of the ward as well as visiting all of the members so that Elder Cac can get to know them better. We helped build a house for this one family which was several hours of work for a couple days in a row and it was pretty tough but Edgardo did basically all of the work. Edgardo offered to basically build the house for this family at a price that was so low that it basically covered the costs of the materials and paid for his friends to help him. Edgardo works out in the campo so he knows all about that stuff so he basically did everything and he had two friends helping him and Elder Cac and I helped where we could. And in three days we built the whole frame of the house which was so cool to see. This member has been waiting and saving up for this to happen for like two years now and it has finally happened for her, there have been so many miracles along the way that have happened to make it possible.

It was amazing to see the amount of service that Edgardo was willing to give to the members, literally the week in between being baptized and being confirmed. He is seriously such an example to me of someone who gives everything. He is always thinking of others and serving. Its so cool to see how God works. He had to help the missionaries to find Edgardo in order for Edgardo to help this family have a home. 

Yesterday we were with Edgardo and Eva and they were telling us how they feel like we are their sons haha and its true, they are like my family here. They are always giving us food and taking us places in their truck to help us out, they are super sweet. Also yesterday I was sitting in their kitchen and all of the sudden a chicken jumped on my lap and it freaked me out cause it was so unexpected haha but it was funny. 

Lots and lots and lots of animals here. Still don't really love them though, but I have definitely become more comfortable with them.Everything is good here!  I am loving the mission. I am so happy all the time.  The church is true! 

Photos from Feliciano~

Week 18~

This week was my last week with Elder Saez, and we were in a trio because Elder Cac was learning how to run the Branch. It has been a really good week. I love the area that I am in and feel like I am really developing strong friendships with the members here. I know it is going to be hard to leave.

We had our first Baptism here on sunday and it was just pure happiness. Edgardo and Eva are married and have no kids and we have been visiting them for quite some time and they finally got baptized. 

It has been so fulfilling to witness the changes that have happened in their lives. Edgardo was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day about a month ago and their marriage was pretty rocky and now Edgardo hasn’t smoked in two weeks and has no desire to. And their marriage is better than it has been in a long time. 

I learned something very important this weekend that I realized at their Baptism. Often as missionaries we put the focus on getting someone to commit to baptism because we know how important it is, but we forget to recognize how awesome all of the little changes are that happen on the way to Baptism. I reflected back on all of the awesome lessons and spiritual experiences we have had with them and realized that those moments were just as satisfying as the baptism. I realized even more, that all I am here to do is help people. And I do that by inviting them to Follow Jesus Christ.  This gospel really does change lives for the better. With the help of our Heavenly Father we can overcome any challenge in our lives. My testimony of that principle has grown immensely being here. 

Elder Saez left on sunday and I was super sad to see him go. We were super close,we were like brothers, so it has been weird not having him around but my new comp is awesome. I am learning a lot from him and I know we are going to have a good transfer together. He is new to the area so I have to take the lead a lot of the time now which I am enjoying. I am officially done with my training so I am not completely useless anymore haha. Everything is going really good! I am super grateful that I still have so much time here because I have so much to learn.

Week 14~

First of all, that's super funny about the snowstorm haha that always happens in georgia. If theres like one snowflake everyone freaks out, but it is understandable cause they don’t have the equipment for it.  This week has been really good, the language has been way better, I think I have turned a new page and realized that I can always be doing more. So I have been studying the language harder, flashcards and grammar every chance I get, and focusing harder when people are talking to try and understand and I have seen huge changes in how much I can communicate which has been awesome. I feel like I can finally be me a little more and make jokes and communicate my thoughts so its nice.

Elder Saez and I also had a really good week as a companionship. We both realized that we can be doing more than we have been doing and we can work harder. We want to see more miracles and do better. We set some goals for ourselves and picked out things that we can be doing better and I feel like we are finally really on the same page about what we want to accomplish. I learned how important it is to set meaningful goals as a companionship because then you know that you are both working towards the same things. So it has been a good week for us.

La Paz is a city in the province of Entre Ríos in the Argentine Mesopotamia

Right now I am in La Paz for a special pday as a zone and for zone conference so there are 8 of us staying in one apartment so lást night I slept on the floor, but its fun being together with everyone. My zone is awesome and we are all good buddies. But I did wake up in the middle of the night with a giant bug crawling on my arm. The good news is that I don’t know what it was because I was too tired to care to find out.

Nothing too crazy exciting happened this week so I hope my letter isn’t super boring haha but I really am doing super well. Everything keeps getting better. Other than the mosquitos.. they still love to destroy me. But I am enjoying these opportunities and these experiences that I am having. Elder Saez has talked a lot about enjoying the moment and it is something that I want to do more because we only get to experience each moment one time and if we are living in the past or preoccupied by the future we are missing the now and there is a lot to be enjoyed about right now.

Well thats all for today, but thank you for your letters and the pictures. sorry I haven’t sent pictures in a while.. the computers don’t let me a lot of the time, but I will try my best to send some soon. The church is true. Heavenly Father loves us and we are literally sons and daughters of Him. Hope you have a great week. Also, sorry there aren’t any exclamation marks….this keyboard doesn’t have them, hahah.

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOSTON… insert exclamation marks

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_24952772_hola--hello-spanist-text--signature-cut-from-paper-and-pinned--vector-illustration.html'>julioaldana / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Week 12 & 13~

Week 12~So I saw the picture of the nutrial and it was way nastier than I was expecting haha I can't believe I ate that. But this week I ate cow tongue which was pretty good I guess! 

Things have been much better this week, we both realized this week that we are super similar in a lot of ways and I remind Elder Saez a lot of him at the beginning of his mission, other than the fact that I am white. By the way Americans are called yankees here (pronounced shankees because of the castellano). Argentines dont think they speak spanish, ¨its castellano¨ as they would say angrily if I call it spanish.. Haha. But things are going really well! The weather has been super nice here and not fiery hot like my first week.

This week was a really good week with one of our investigators, Edgardo, he came to church and really enjoyed it and you can just see in his countenance the changes that have happened in him since we started teaching him. He talked about how he has felt the spirit and described it as a burning in his chest and a feeling of peace. To be honest when he said that, it made everything thats hard about the mission worth it. I have been feeling like I have been doing everything I can since I have been here and not really seen much from it. So I had been starting to worry that maybe I wasn't doing enough, but the happiness that Edgardo has found in his life from meeting with us and learning more about our Heavenly Father has been a really cool thing to witness. Yesterday he committed to quit smoking to prepare for his baptism in three weeks and he didnt even hesitate to say he would do it so we are really excited about that. The Lord has prepared Edgardo to make these changes in his life, Elder Saez and I just happen to be the missionaries that get to watch it happen so I feel super lucky.

So I am emailing today instead of yesterday because of transfers. THe first six week transfer ended yesterday so that means Elder Saez only has six weeks left in the mish! Which can be a little bit distracting sometimes. I will admit, it makes it a little difficult to have a companion that is about to go home cause it makes me think about how far away going home is haha but I know it will go by super fast and I am glad that I have lots of time left because I still have so much to do!

Send everyone my love as always!!

Week 13~Another week has passed by and they keep getting faster!  This week I have been a little frustrated witht the language, I have been feeling like my progression has slowed down or almost stopped and I couldn’t figure out why.  I honestly felt like I was doing everything I could, but earlier in the week I kind of had an epiphany and realized that I really wasn’t listening as hard as I could be.  I found myself kind of letting my mind wander sometimes if I didn’t know what they were saying.  So I started to focus as hard as I could every time we would talk to people and I immediately noticed a huge difference in my ability to understand.  Since then, I have been understanding really well for the most part, but it is still difficult.  Something I feel very lucky to have that my Patriarchal Blessing talks about is the ability to always have peace and confidence during my trials to know that its going to work out.  Nothing is ever more than I can handle and I always know even during the hardest times that its going to work out so I don’t need to worry too much.  I feel very grateful for that. we talk to people and I immediately noticed a huge difference in my ability to understand. Since then, I have been understanding really well for the most part, but it is still difficult. But Something that I feel very lucky to have that my Patriarchal Blessing talks about is the ability to always have peace and confidence during my trials to know that its going to work out. Nothing is ever more than I can handle and I always know even during the hardest times that its going to work out so I don't need to worry too much. I feel very grateful for that. Yesterday in church our investigator Edgardo, that will be getting baptized pretty soon, walked into church right as it was starting and it was quiet and he kind of yelled and said "hola todo!" hahaha, it was so funny, he is such an awesome guy. And even though he is from the campo and I can still hardly understand a word he says, we are best friends. I love that! The only thing I have against him is that i stepped in the nastiest dog duece at his house. I didn't realize it until we got home and by then it had stunk up the whole apartment. I almost threw up while I was scraping the poop off my shoe. It was the worst smell I have probably smelled in my life.  

I have learned more this week the importance of putting my faith in the Lord instead of relying on myself and that is why I am a terrible teacher haha. We are so much better when we rely on the Lord. There truly is real power in faith. But faith is action. We have to do our part to have the power. I heard a quote that I really liked, "Pray as if everything depended on the Lord, and work as if everything depended on you." I thought that was perfect to define faith. We have to have that level of confidence in the Lord, but then do everything we can and he will help us out. Well that's all for this week. Everything is going really well. Things with Elder Saez are great. I am happy and healthy & working hard. I can't ask for much more. Hope you have an awesome week. I love you ALL!

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_14989263_curious-holstein-cow.html'>ghita / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Week 11~

So did you know that technically I am supposed to come home on October 18th which means that this week I reached my three month mark and i am one eighth done with my mission already! That might not sound like much to you guys haha but it has already gone waaaaay fast for me. Its crazy. This week wasn´t my favorite week of the mish so far but it was still good!

I ate a lot of weird foods this week. And I always get excited when I have the opportunity to try something new so that I can brag about it in my email home haha. I might have already said this but I have gotten to the point where I can eat anything that people give me. I can eat mayonaise now without wanting to throw up. This week I ate nutrial (which apparently is a giant rat)

I think I spelled the name right, you will have to look it up. I´m not gonna lie it was pretty mediocre at best. And the next day I got the sickest I have gotten on the mish.   I also ate lamb twice this week and both times it was actually really good. I would gladly eat it again. And the other weird thing I ate was.. wait for it..

Ostrich egg. Yeah theres lots of ostriches here believe it or not. The egg is like the same thing as a chicken egg but like the size of a baby´s head and not as good tasting. I wasn't a huge fan, but it did the job. So yeah this week was interesting food wise. But the good news is that there is always food. We are definitely not going hungry here in Feliciano. The Members are super loving and giving. I have lost about 15 pounds though so thats good! It was much needed after the MTC.

We did a bunch of service this week, we painted the outside of Abuela´s house (our favorite member) and we also dug this GIANT hole at our investigators house. He is using the hole for where his bathroom activity will go so it was like five feet in diameter and like 10 feet deep which is super hard to dig that deep so we dug for like four hours and got about 3 feet in. My back was destroyed the next day but I enjoyed the service.

The past three days have been super tough for me companionship wise.. The differences in our cultures and the way we have grown up is really starting to show at this point.  We are just different so I am trying to focus on the good. I made a goal at the beginning of my mission to love all of my companions and always find the good in them and the lessons I can learn from them so I am not going to let little things get in the way of that. I am realizing how much the mission is going to prepare me for marriage haha so thats a plus! Not that I am thinking about that ever..

I have been studying the Atonement a lot this week in Jesus The Christ and in some talks and scriptures and I have come to understand more how much love Christ has for us to give us the opportunity to repeatedly receive forgiveness over and over and constantly improve ourselves to become more like him. The Atonement is a process of love. I think a lot of the time we have (or at least I) this perception that the Atonement and asking forgiveness is this scary thing that only really bad people have to do. But if we were to truly understand the Atonement and understand the love that our Heavenly Father has for us I think we would spend a lot more of our efforts using the process of the Atonement. So thats my little lesson for the week haha. I love that I get to study the gospel every day and learn more and learn how much Heavenly Father loves us. Our trials are for our learning and benefit and we are given the trials that Heavenly Father knows we can handle because Heavenly Father would never set us out to fail. He wants the best for us and gives us every opportunity to learn and grow. I know the message I am sharing is true!

Thats all for today, hope everything is good! I love and miss you all at home and you are in my prayers!

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_20224168_ostrich-with-egg.html'>peternile / 123RF Stock Photo</a>
Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_21691588_nutria.html'>alein / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Week 10~

 I am going to send a little shorter letter to try to send pictures instead of taking so much time to write the letter. This week was really good! Slow and steady I am getting more comfortable and learning the norms of missionary life. The language for me kinda stalled this week for a couple days, but i figured out that I need to listen more intently and I have been doing that and trying to really focus on the investigators words and nothing else. I have seen a change since then! This past week I started teaching english classes! We are having them every wednesday night and anyone is invited to come. There was only five people at the first one, but I think its going to grow into a really good thing and a good way to bring others to the church! No one here can say my name haha. No one even tries. I introduce myself and there just like, oh whatever. We walked out to the campo super far for the first time this week. It took 45 minutes to walk to this house in the middle of nowhere.

I'll send pics of it!  We committed two people to baptism this week which was exciting. One of them is Edgardo and he is from the campo and we went to his house yesterday and helped him take care of all his animals. It was actually super fun. We had to chase sheep around to gather them into the fenced area and these two wouldn't go in  and we had to chase them around for a while. But it was really cool for me because the scriptures always talk about sheep and the fold and bringing in the one and it helped me understand better how important each person is. And the shepherd doesn't just give up on a sheep if he doesn't want to go in the fenced area. The shepherd keeps trying and tries different ways to gather the sheep. Sometimes with love, but sometimes with a little push or (throwing sticks at it) haha but i also fed a cow and when we walked in his house he had all the parts of a whole dead cow hanging in his kitchen so that was interesting. I almost threw up at first but then I got over it! Well it really has been a great week, my ears are fine! I didn't go to the doctor, just the pharmacy. So a branch president is basically the same as a Bishop, they do everything that a bishop does as far as I am aware so yes I spend a lot of additional time at the church while he is doing interviews or hosting activities for the youth because we are basically running the whole branch. Theres honestly like no leaders in the branch that help us out so we spend a lot of time teaching members and trying to train them to be leaders. We clean the church on Saturdays usually and go early on sunday to set everything up so yes it is very different from a normal missionary. A lot less time for the actually missionary work. Probably about half. It can be frustrating, but I know there is a reason that i am here and i am learning a lot of things that other missionaries don't get the opportunity to. Feliciano is an awesome place. It is super calm and tranquil and everyone is super friendly. There is like a town square and paved roads for maybe four blocks by four blocks and then after that is dirt roads and tiny little brick houses. Houses have dirt or cement floors and often roofs are tarps.  As always I have no time so please thank everyone for the letters and I love the pictures! The church is true!

Week 8~First Week in Argentina~Feliciano

Well a week has gone by already and although it has been super fast.
The days have probably been the longest and hardest days of my life
haha. But no worries, it is getting better each day and I am doing
great! The first three days once I got to Feliciano were super tough
and very humbling. Spanish here is soooo different. And I am pretty
sure that every single person has a different accent. At this point I
can understand like everything that some people say and then other
people (the ones from the campo.. or away from the town in the farms.)
I can literally not understand a single word they say. Its ridiculous.
But the people are awesome! I love them. After teaching one lesson or
eating one meal with them we are best friends. They are so friendly
and welcoming and want to give you everything they have. We get
lunches from the members every day basically and they hardly have
anything, but they will fill your plate and make you eat more than you
want and you cant tell them otherwise.. Everyone says hi to us on the
street and everyone is willing to talk to you so really we have maybe
been rejected like twice since I have been here.. other than that we
have talked to everyone that we have tried. In our branch there are around 30 or
so active members, but I swear like half of Feliciano has been
baptized before and is now inactive. I am pretty sure there are like 2
or 3 hundred inactive members. So our focus is not just getting
baptisms. Especially since Elder Saez is the Branch President.. We
spend a ton of our times teaching members because about 20 of the 30
are recent converts. Because so
many people go inactive, our focus is on strengthening the members and
the branch and then having strong conversion baptisms.. not just
baptisms. My mind has been consumed by how I can strengthen the branch
and contribute to it so I am constantly striving to think of ways to
make the branch better. I have been trying to think of good activities
for the youth that we could have to help strengthen them. If you have
any good ideas for mutual activities or cool american activities that
I could teach them that would be super helpful! Please ask the fam.
The branch is very close to being super strong and growing really fast
if we do the right things but I feel like it could also fall apart
really easily if we dont work super hard to keep building it.
The language is coming along really well though, I am getting better
each day! And Elder Saez is such a stud! He has taught me a ton and I
feel super lucky to have him as my comp. Hes awesome.
More about feliciano: its a super calm friendly town, so we dont have
to worry about getting robbed here which is nice. It is not like other
areas. But it is a very spread out and large town so we do a ton of
walking and it is SO HOT. THe other day it was 104 and the humidity is
definitely worse than Georgia. And the thing about here is that you
never escape the heat because no one has air conditioning so we just
sweat all the time! We have one little fan thats from like world war 1
in our apartment haha but yeah We go to bed and wake up just drenched
in sweat. But I like to sweat so its good! We have a washing machine
and we are like the only area that does so that is sweet and we also
have a really nice apartment.. relatively speaking so i am grateful
for that. We also have hot water which turns out to not matter because
we take cold showers to escape the heat.
We drink so much water all the time so no worries about dehydration.
There are bugs everywhere because doors dont really go all the way to
the ground and windows dont really close here so pretty much
everywhere is free game for bugs. There are dogs everywhere. They are
all nice and not aggresive so its no big deal. The only ones that do
anything are the ones behind fences. They like to talk a big game, but
they are more scared of us.
No one really knows how to sing here so they all think I am a really
good singer haha so last night we were celebrating new years eve with
one of the members, her name is Abuela. Shes our go to member. And
they wanted me to sing an english song and the 11 year old (Javier)
knew some american music and he asked me to ing Hey there Delilah by
plain white ts so I sang that hahaha it was ridiculous. But It was a
fun night. We ate a ton of food and I was actually able to converse
and make jokes with everyone last night so it was fun.

One challenge for me has been the food. Because all anyone ever told
me was that the food is amazing so I just expected to be eating
delicious steaks all the time, but thats not really it at all. Its not
bad by any means but it is jut way different and there is some weird
stuff. The big problem is that they eat mayonase like its air.. And I
despise mayo. But I am getting over it and starting to enjoy the food
more and more. I hardly ate anything for the first three days cause I
had no appetite and the food was weird so I lost a bunch of weight
which was much needed after the mtc. My butt isnt quite as huge
anymore!
Sunday I bore my testimony in church and taught sunday school haha.
That was interesting.. Fortunately it was only five people and I was
already friends with four of them so they helped me out a bit.
Yesterday I gave my first blessing in spanish which was super tough
but it was awesome. It was for a little 1 year old girl in our ward
whos sick.

OKay I am running out of time. Sorry if it sounds like I am
complaining in this whole email or if it sounds like I am miserable
because I really am not. I love it here and am loving the work! It has
been very tough and different and humbling, but I love it! I have
already learned so much. I know that I cant do this on my own so I am
learning to rely on the Lord more and more. I have a lot to learn, but
I have the desire to do everything I need to do so I know it will work
out. When I got here I realized that I really had to figure out why I
was here because if I didn't have a good reason, it would be a huge
joke to be here and be going through all of this hard stuff for
nothing. So I made a list of the reasons why I was here for example I
am here because I know that the principles of the gospel have blessed
me and my family and I know they can bless everyone. I also know that
through Christ is the only way that we can receive all that our Father
in Heaven has in store for us. I have to share this message with
people or else I am depriving them of those blessings. I
really hope it doesnt seem like I am talking bad about anything or
complaining because I really do love it here and I love the people and
I love this opportunity I have. I know that my Heavenly Father loves
me and is aware of me and watching over me. I know that through the
principles and ordinances of this gospel, we receive eternal life and
all the blessings that our Heavenly Father wants to give us. I know
that Scripture reading, praying, and going to church are simple
things, but are the most important things we can do each day and each
week. Those three things keep us on the path. I love this message that
I get to share and I love being a missionary. I hope that you are all enjoying
this holiday season. Lots of love!
I will try to send some pictures real quick if I can.

Week 7~Merry Christmas~Traveling to Argentina

December 20, 2013~I got a new flight plan today!  We'll see what happens on this one.  I leave SLC on Sunday December 22 and land in Dallas, then I leave Dallas and get to Buenos Aires at 8:30AM onMonday December 23rd.  So that's the plan!  I will get to talk to you all two days later on Christmas, hopefully!  Elder Howe left this morning which was super sad.  We were planning on not saying goodbye until we got to Argentina, so that was a bummer,  but now me and Elder Hansen are comps for a couple of days which is awesome!  He is a stud.  So yeah, that's the plan, hopefully it doesn't snow again!  I'll be in touch!

December 25, 2013~It turns out that my comp and I had to stay at the Mission home yesterday while everyone else left because our mission is really far away and there were no buses.  So we are getting on a bus for about 7 hours at 11:45 here which is 9:45 in the morning your time.  I don't know if I will get to call you when I get to Feliciano, but I can call you here before I leave.  Merry Christmas!! Love you all!

I have to leave in 30 minutes to go to the bus so we are going to have to do it later.  We will get to La Paz around 6:00 my time, but we have a place to use skype there.  So I should hopefully be able to get on for about an hour around 4-4:30 your time!  So be ready for that.  Love you all! Hope you have an awesome day.  By the way, my companion is a total stud.  He is awesome! 
Sorry I am late! The bus was late!  I am ready now so try and call back as soon as you can because we don't have tons of time.

I love you all!  Sorry the skyping didn't really work out as planned.  It was great to see everyone.  I am doing great so no worries!  Life is good.  Have a great Christmas and I will be in touch soon!