Argentina Adventures: Baptisms, another "verdecito," a call as district leader, and his year mark

Another month has passed in the life of our missionary and he has had some memorable moments.

First, we want you to know that Benjamin loves it in Villa María. Not only is it a bigger city than the first two he was in, he is particularly thrilled that the members are “super faithful", they have a great branch president and enthusiastic members helping with the missionary effort(they sometimes even go with the missionaries to participate in the lessons)

One inspiring experience he had soon after arriving in Villa María was with a handicapped man and his parents. He wrote that they were walking down the street and he felt like they needed to knock on the door of this certain house. An old lady answered and said she was attending to her son. They were confused because the lady was about 70 and they didn’t believe she had a young child. When she let them in they met her 41 year old son who was in a wheelchair. He suffers from muscular dystrophy. They gave the parents and son a short lesson and when they were finished the dad asked the son, if he wanted them to come back. He asked him to close his eyes if he wanted them to come back, and he did. As Benjamin noted, it was "such a cool experience."

Another amazing experience that they had was with the Guerra family. The second Sunday after they started teaching them, Benjamin and his companion were meeting with bishop and ward mission leader before church and they noted that this family needed help with transportation to get to Church. The bishop said he could go pick them up that day so they wouldn't have to take a remi("taxi" in Argentine Spanish). And I will conclude this story with Benjamin's own words. "After the meeting I went to call the family but to my surprise they were already there at the chapel!!! They had walked 50 minutes to get to church! I was so amazed! It was a miracle! They really have great faith!"

Then came probably the most memorable day in the past month. On February 13th they had two baptisms, Claudia and her 14 year old son, Alex, whom they had been teaching for the past 6 weeks, and Elder Corbett got a call from the mission president to inform him that he was going to be assigned his second "verdecito" straight from the MTC in Utah, AND that he was called to be district leader in Villa María. His new companion is Elder Kelsey and the following story of what happened when Benjamin went to Córdoba city to pick him up gives you an idea of what type of a missionary he is going to be. I will let Ben tell it in his own words: "We got to the mission home and there were ten trainers. Then the new missionaries got there and they looked excited but at the same time really tired. I am sure I must have looked the same. One of the trainers asked one of the missionaries if he felt excited to work. He said "No sabo mucho, pero sí."("I don't know alot, but yes." Those who know Spanish will note that he used the wrong form of the verb) After all of the "verdecitos" had had their first interview with the President, he called out the list of the new companions. Elder Corbett with….Elder Kelsey! He was the missionary that had answered the question. HA Ha" Ben observed that although his Spanish isn't really good, he isn't afraid to talk to people, and he has a big desire to be a great missionary.

The last thing to report is that on February 25th(just yesterday) Benjamin celebrated his one year mark on his mission! He indicates that the tradition there is to burn a white shirt in honor of this accomplishment(we hope he picks the one that is the most threadbare! Ha!) Although we certainly have missed his bright personality and caring ways here in our family, the time has passed relatively quickly. Benjamin has also observed how fast time is passing, noting that some elders he had known quite well from the beginning of his mission just went home, he wrote, “Their time is up and one day I will be right where they are! That means I need to take it to another level, push myself harder!"

To close this update I will use some of the closing remarks from a few of his recent letters: “I miss you all and each day pray for you. Keep strong in the faith. Pray everyday and love one another. Count your blessings! I am blessed to be serving a mission for the Lord! And I know that this work is the work of our God!”

He loves hearing from his friends and family!

Ben and Elder Espinoza showing off their amazingly similar flags: Texas and Chile

Catholic Church at night

Baptism of Claudia Guevara and her son, Alex

Ben in front of a Catholic Church

District Meeting with some of the other elders:

Zone Conference: Elder Espinoza to the right of Ben

Ben's Apartment Building. They live on the 3rd Floor: They've been without electricity and gas for awhile now. He says that he is getting used to the cold showers.