More wonderful, interesting experiences in Villa María!

Well it’s time for another update on Elder Corbett’s activities. I can’t believe that it has been a full month since I have done so!

One thing for sure is that he and his companion have been working extremely hard and they have had many wonderful and interesting experiences.

During the last week of February, as everyone well knows, the terrible earthquake hit Chile, Argentina’s neighbor to the west. Benjamin’s prior companion, Elder Espinoza, who is still in Ben’s district, is from Santiago, Chile and so he was very concerned for the welfare of his family and friends. Fortunately, soon after the quake, the Mission President called to let him know that all was well with them. Although Benjamin didn’t feel it(it happened when they were asleep), one of his neighbors said she had felt it.

Benjamin and his companion have had some scary experiences this past month. First off, they had a close call with a car one night. They were walking down a side street and they saw a truck coming so they moved off to the side out of its way. But then it swerved towards them and his companion quickly pushed him out of the way. Ben noted that the driver might have been drunk as he was swerving a lot. Thank goodness for alert companions! Then came the “flying” snake experience. One day they were knocking on door and this snake fell of this house right next to them. Fortunately it was a small earth snake and it slithered off, according to Ben, like a side winder.

Benjamin reported that his companion, Elder Kelsey, brought a ton of little CTR rings to give to the kids there. These are rings that are popular in our Church and the letters stand for “Choose the right!” a slogan that is taught to members when they are children. Ben also noted that from time to time they hand them out and that the kids love them! They will often see the children later and they always show them that they are still wearing them.

Benjamin hasn’t been able to play much soccer there in Villa Maria, either because he can’t find enough people to play or he is too busy. However, he reported that about two weeks ago they had their monthly zone conference in Córdoba City and that they played soccer as a zone. To quote him, “3 hours of pure soccer! I was in heaven! I ended up getting sun burnt, but what can you do?”
Benjamin had a neat, unusual experience not long ago. He and his companion were invited to eat at the other missionaries’ home. The owner lives right in front and she has had missionaries live there for more than 50 years. What made it neat is that a former missionary who had served there 25 years ago was there visiting her. He was in Argentina doing business for the Church and decided to drop in on her. One thing that was particularly interesting is that he works in the Church offices in Utah and that he helped write Preach My Gospel, the book that missionaries use all over the world to guide them with their teaching. Ben noted that he spoke really good Spanish, but not as good as me, his Dad(Awww! That was nice of him!)

By far the best experience Benjamin has had of late is the opportunity to teach many wonderful people and, just a week ago, to baptize a woman and her 9 year old son.
He shared an inspiring conversation with the boy. They stopped by their house about 3 days before the baptism and the boy was sick, but he told them not to worry, that even though he was sick he was still going to get baptized. The missionaries were very impressed and Benjamin wrote that it taught him that “we should have the same dedication and desire to follow Christ, no matter what our circumstances or trials may be.” After the baptism the missionaries, the mother and son went to a member’s house for an “asado”(barbecue) to celebrate the occasion.

As you may recall, when Benjamin moved in to his new apartment in Villa María in January, there was no electricity or hot water. Well despite the fact that the zone leaders and those in the office were aware of it and did get the electricity turned on for awhile, as of the second week of March, Benjamin and his companion were still without hot water, and they had also had the electricity turned off again. Well, finally, last week, Benjamin reported the following: “Still no Light and Gas! Enough is enough. Today I went to figure everything out for myself. The office elders and Hermano Urquiza obviously were having troubles. Today I went to the owner of the apartments to figure out what we needed to do. She explained things very clearly, and I got them done! Next the light. I went to EPEC. The light place. I paid a bill that the office elders and Hermano Urquiza should have paid. And what do you know?…We got light! When you want something done right…” I asked him what it was like to take a hot shower again, but I haven’t gotten a reply.

And, last but not least of the experiences Benjamin has had during the past month, on March 29th he got a phone call from the mission president in which he was informed that he had been called to be zone leader. Having only been out 13 months, and having served as district leader for only 6 weeks, Benjamin was certainly not expecting this new, weighty call. He was definitely humbled, but is excited about it and particularly because he will remain in Villa María.

In closing, we want to note how Benjamin still LOVES to get letters and packages from his family and friends here in the States. At the beginning of March he hit the jackpot! He received a Valentine’s Day package from his Mom and Dad with M&M’s, a photo key chain, photos, and his favorite deodorant and also about 5 letters from friends and family.