Closing in on his two-year mark, but he won’t be home until the end of March!?

Here I am again to bring you up to date on what Elder Corbett has been doing. The last time I reported it was just about Christmas, so that is where I will pick things up.

As it has been for the past two years, one of the most exciting experiences for our family was to be able to speak with Benjamin on Christmas day. We were pleased that all the members of our immediate family were able to be there to talk to him and feel of his spirit. He noted in his next e-mail message that it was great to hear our voices!

As I noted in my last update, at the beginning of December Elder Corbett was called to serve as one of the two assistants to the mission president. So in this update you will learn much more about what his responsibilities have been.

Elder Corbett’s and his companion’s first week of the year was, using his own words, “packed full of WORK.” As has been the case most of the time in his new position, they only spent one or two days a week working in their own area of the city with their own investigators. The rest of the time they were busy working with the president to make plans for the missionary work or visiting and working with missionaries throughout the entire mission. More specifically, this is what he had told us about this new call: “As an AP[assistant to the president] I see the mission from a different perspective. I am grateful for the trust Heavenly Father has in me. My daily schedule is waking up, getting ready, heading to the office for a couple of hours to take care of computer work or meetings with President Salas, we have been super busy , so that makes things a blur.” In one message Benjamin reported that they were up late planning with the president and that it was a great experience because they talked about the gospel and future plans.. He added “the bad part about it is less sleep! But sleep I can get back, ...time with the president, no.” He continued, “I am so blessed to be side by side with President Salas. He is such a role model!” Elder Corbett is very optimistic about their labors in the mission, he predicted that “Great things are going to happen here in CORDOBA!!!

For the month of January the mission leaders felt inspired to set a goal of 100 baptisms for the mission. Benjamin noted that in 2010 they never reached that number in a single month. And during the first week he and his companion were blessed to see two of their investigators get baptized, Romina and Lucia. He noted that they were so happy during church and “their smiles were huge during the whole baptism.” And this was despite the fact that when they filled the baptismal font, the water came out green. One special baptism Elder Corbett and his companion had was María Gómez, the 74 year old mother of a member who has been very faithful!! They had invited her to be baptized in December and she was ready a month or so later..

In his January 31st message he indicated that they had reached 96 baptisms in January, oh so close to their goal of 100.. But then a week later he reported that all the zone leaders celebrated with the mission president their 100 baptisms in January. So it appears that they did reach their goal.

Another of Elder Corbett’s new duties as assistant is to work closely with the mission president with the transfers of missionaries from one companionship and area to another, something that takes place every 6 weeks. As he described it to us they begin on a Wednesday and end on Saturday and it is a long, tiring process, but one that is guided by inspiration from the Lord.

During these past two months he has travelled to the other two provinces that make up his mission, Catamarca and La Rioja. He noted that Catamarca is hotter and drier than the places he has worked in Córdoba.

In January two new missionaries were assigned to live with Elder Corbett and his companion, Elder Pacheco. Elder Cerda, from the same ward in Chile as Elder Pacheco, and Elder Flake from Orange, California, very close to where Benjamin’s Aunt
Caryn and Uncle Ken live.. He says they are both hard workers and that they all get along well.!

Well, now the biggest news that we received from Elder Corbett during the past two months. About the middle of January, after he had already been given his flight plans for a return near the beginning of March, his mission president, President Salas, asked him to consider staying an additional 3 weeks in order to train the two new assistants. Since both Benjamin and his companion, Elder Pacheco, were to end their missions at the same time, the president wanted to have one of them train the new ones. We told him that we would support him with whatever he decided. After Benjamin prayed about it for a week or so he decided that it was the right thing for him to do. After being away from him for almost 2 years(his two year mark is February 25th), we can surely wait an additional 3 weeks to have him come home(can’t we?!?)

In his most recent message Elder Corbett told us that they had a great “missionary” Valentine’s day. It was their preparation day and they were able to get invited to a private country club to play soccer and have an “asado”. And Presidente Salas again played soccer with them. Benjamin noted, “I was able to be with my love today…...SOCCER!!!!”

Another highlight of this past week was a special meeting for the members with one of the area authorities, President Arnold. As a part of the meeting for the youth of the area, all the full-time missionaries sang in a special choir. He noted that they all entered the chapel singing “Called to Serve” and the spirit was strong. He then observed, “Being an elder is a special blessing.”

And the best part of the week was that they found some neat families to teach and that a number of them came to church .

The next update will be the last as it will come right before Elder Corbett completes his mission. As the say in Argentina, “chau”!