Life Marches On

Twenty Thirteen.

I think it was when we were driving to St. George from Amy's house in Roseville (CA) that the conversation turned to the events this year would hold for our family:

Twenty Thirteen promises to be full of change:

big changes for me.

Jennifer will graduate from High School - my baby.

My baby who has become an amazing, beautiful woman and a dear friend.

     -No more children in public schools.

Jennifer will spend three weeks in Germany on an school organized exchange.
    - I realize that she will be 18, but my baby will be in a foreign country.
    - Mark and I will have three straight weeks to ourselves.

Exciting, different, a little taste of things to come. Three weeks is long enough to do something fun, something productive - and not quite long enough to feel lost.

Christian will return home from his mission
     -Can I really be the mother of three returned missionaries?
Ruby will start Kindergarten
Jennifer will start College

I'm getting old. 

Christian and Jennifer will move out and attend BYU.
    - Which means I retire from full time mothering...

This is the big one. 

The first twenty years of my life I looked forward and prepared to be a mother. 

It was the desire of my heart. 

The next almost thirty years I have spent enveloped in the lives of my family,

most especially my children.

This is a great blessing I have been given from my Father in Heaven

as well as my amazing husband, as he has also made it possible,

not only to have them, but for mothering and nurturing to be my full time job.

I look forward to having having a freedom we have not had for many years.

But, he will go to work and while I will have Kindermusik,

for the first time in a long time, 

no one will come through the door in the middle of the day

ready for a snack and some chatter about their day.

I will miss that. 

The house will be very quiet most of the day,

which isn't that different than it is now,

 but it will feel more empty.

I guess that's why they call it an empty nest.

Mark will be released from the MTC.

   -Which means he will have an extra 16+ hours a week.

   -We may actually get to sit together in church.

   - We will miss the great blessing of associating with the incredible Elders and Sisters at the MTC.

And then, last but not least on 11-13 of 2013, I will turn 50.

   - Not a bit deal really. But I guess a lot of it depends on the things that happen earlier in the year.

Twenty thirteen promises to be full of change, probably summed up by a fortune cookie: 

"Your path may be difficult but it will be rewarding."

Ready or not, here it comes...

Hot and Sunny

Might need a close up of this little critter...

Yep! Bed bugs....

Ha, how´s it going? Things are great here, it seems to get hotter every day, it is super dry here, and you really feel the sun. Things are good, we got some chemicals from the mission presidents wife, and took apart our beds and took them outside and sprayed them all down with chemicals, to try and kill all of the bed bugs and we have been sleeping well. My companion and I are getting along great, and have been working really hard.. ( ha ha I have to say I am having a hard time writing in English, because my companion is Latino and so I only speak in Spanish.. ha ha and i keep on wanting to say things in Spanish, then i have to stop and think of how i say it in English, it is really weird!!) My companion and I have a lot of energy and excitement to work here, and we know that we will be seeing it boom here. 

 Yesterday, Sunday I had my first opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting, and it went really well, I was a little nervous, but I had prayed and prepared with the spirit, and knew what i wanted to say, and so it went really well. I was amazed how the spirit guided me, and gave me the things i needed to say. (I didn't even have it written word for word, I just had notes, and scriptures... my first talk like that!) I am always amazed how the lord sustains and blesses us, as we do his will and seek his help. He really does love us. In my talk I spoke about charity, and I read a little section about the life of Jesus Christ, and he is an example for each and every one of us, in how he lived, how he was able to serve and love every person that he came in contact with, even the soldiers who were the ones to end his life, and I took some time and thought about what it would take to be able to do that, and what i have come to conclude, is that he loves us, and has experienced every one of our lives, and so he views us with the perspective of our eternal potential, our potential to become like our heavenly father, and so, when we take that into perspective, that every one of us has that potential, and that really is what we are all searching, and striving for, the ability to be eternally happy, when we see the people around us, fall and make mistakes, and maybe leave the path, we need to view them as our heavenly father views us, and do everything we can to help pick them back up, brush them off, and get them on their way. That is what the gospel is all about, repenting and changing and striving to become better, so that one day we will be able to achieve our potential, and ultimately be happy. Every single on of us will fall and make mistakes, and sin, that is part of the plan, so we need to remember that, and always strive to do what we can to repent, and help others to do the same, so we can take advantage of the atonement and be considered worthy through christ´s perfection. It is simple and beautiful, yet we could study it forever and still learn and be edified. I love the gospel family, I know it is true, I am soo happy that I have the opportunity to share this great message with the world, and get to try and build up the Lords kingdom in this little dry, hot, dirty place in the world. I love it. 

Eating gnocchi for lunch, Elder Rivera across the table

Pizza that Christian made

Love,

Elder Zimbelman

More from Elder Z

Hey family! 


Ha, if this letter sounds like every other one, it probably is because it is.. I think i start all of them the same.. ha ha oh well..
Hey i just want to start out and say thank you for your letters, I always feel of your love, and they fill me with more love and appreciation for the lord, and this time i have to serve him. thank you for your advice, for everything! I love to hear from each of you!
 
This week has been a very eventful week, ha ha, first of all elder Rivera is my new companion, we are getting along great, and I really think we will be seeing this area begin to explode. We are both very excited to work and it doesn't hurt that he is Latino and speaks Spanish as his native tongue. Well the first night he was here, he couldn't sleep, and we found out that we have bedbugs in our pension.. so we are going to work just that little bit harder to find a new pension :) as well as the other day I woke up a little sick to my stomach, but it was just for a little, and I have been feeling fine ever since. 


Things are going really well here, both elder rivera and I are really motivated and excited to get to work here, and I know the Lord will do his work in his own way, and in his own time. 
Love you all, cant wait to talk with you this Christmas! keep on saying your prayers, and reading your scriptures! There is soo much to learn, every one of us has more to learn, and more blessings we could be recieving, so ask the lord waht you can be doing better, and listen, and he will answer. love you all! Have a good week!

love,
Elder Zimbelman

From Elder Z

Hey family,


It was good to hear from most of you! I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well, and that mom had a good birthday, that amy and jordan´s trip has been good, and all these blessings! How wonderful! 


It pricked my heart to hear about Grandpa Jim´s passing, but having the knowledge of the resurrection, and of the nature of God, that he loves all of his children and that brings me alot of comfort. He really will be missed though. He has been missed for the past year or two it seems. 

This week it seems that I have been studying the plan of salvation a lot. As I have read about where we go after this life, and what happens, and the opportunity we have to achieve exaltation, my heart has burned within me, and it has been a testimony to me of our divine natures. It has been a beautiful experience, and it seems quite timely with the passing of Jim this week. 


I have been reminded of over and over this week, that we are all spiritual children of our Heavenly Father. We lived with Him before we came to this Earth but left his presence to gain a body, learn and grow and to show our willingness to obey his will by performing ordinances and living the commandments. We did all of this, so that one day, if we are faithful, and do all that he asks us to do, we can be like him, having all that he has. Like it says in Matthew 25:23 (something like blessed are ye faithful servant, ye have been faithful over little, over much you will be. enter into the joy of your lord) sorry only have my spanish bible.  How beautiful is that! And how much does this knowledge change in our lives. We know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. So when trials or temptations come, we can weigh them in the balances of eternal life, and no matter what it is, the promise of eternal life weighs more. This also goes with whatever the Lord asks us to do (D&C 122). Bueno, there is so much that I have learned here. 


Love you all Elder Zimbelman

Hey!

Hey guys! 


It has been an interesting week. We seemed to have a really hard time finding anyone at home, or they were always about to leave, or something. Things really have started to slow down. Also this week, we went and visited a family, who live out in the boonies. On our way back, we saw Gonzalo, and he waved us down, and started talking to us. We had left Moroni 8 for him and his father to read, about baptism, and he came up to us, and had understood it soo well! He was like, "Hey, things are going well for me ever since I have been talking to you guys, and I can always feel the spirit when you guys come, then it leaves with you too. So man, I need to get baptized to get the Holy Ghost, huh?" He still has a bit to learn to be ready but it was soo cool! 


Family thank you for your prayers this week. I honestly could feel it strenghtening me. I know the lord loves us, and wants soo bad for us to come back to Him.  I hope that each of us can retain the big picture, and remember that this life is not about work, or school or things like that, but really this life is about learning how to show our Heavenly Father that we are willing to do what it takes to live with Him someday.


Love you all,


Elder Zimbelman


*this is just an excerpt of a much longer letter. If you are interested in reading the letter in it's entirety let me know and I can email it to you.

Hey Everyone!

Hey everyone!

Well a story from last week that I really wanted to tell, but i didnt have time. Last week, we went and visited Gloria with a member named Adrian.It was amazing. Gloria has been taking the lessons for almost a year, and she has made a lot of progress in that time. My companion  has been here for 7 months and has been working with her all that time. When he got here she couldn't understand the Book of Mormon and wasn't really receptive. She was going to kick the Elders out, but had a dream that the Elders were at her door, and someone, who she couldnt see, but could hear, said "Sister, listen to these guys, somthing amazing is going to happen". So she let them keep on coming back. Since then she has read all of the Book of Mormon, she had finished it the last week. Adrian went with us to visit her and she was really shut down to baptism. As we talked with her, she said she knows it is true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but she felt that her baptism as a child in the catholic church was still valid, "one faith one lord one baptism" was what she said. She feels like all baptisms were the same. We talked to her about authority, Moroni 7: 7-10 where it talks about child baptism, and all sorts of things, but it just didnt seem to get through that her baptism wasn't valid. We had talked with her about it a million times before.. and so when Adrian heard her reaction about baptism, I think it got him going. We had a lesson where the spirit was amazingly strong, and we went thorough and got rid of all of her doubts, and by the end she accepted that her baptism was invalid, and that the church was true, and everything she needs! Ahhh but she is still scared, because she has been catholic all her life, and all her family is catholic, and she doesnt want to change religions, unless she is absoluetly sure. She just wants something that she understands as an answer that this is definitely where she needs to be. We shared Alma 32 the last time, and we are working with her, we are hoping that it will be this saturday, and praying, we will see.

The thing I wanted to share from that experience, was at one point, gloria was talking about how she has had some really hard things in her life, and she has a really hard time forgiving people.  She doesn't want to have that in her heart when she gets baptized. When she was talking about that, I remembered an experience I had with dad and Rob, that illustrated the power of the atonement and forgiveness amazingly in my life and I knew I had to share it with her, and I want to share it with you guys now. I am sure you all remember that I hit a tree with Robs car while he was on his mission .. something i will always regret, and will be something I can't forget. So bueno, Robbie returned from his mission, and with the amazing heart that he has, forgave me, and did all that he could to forgive me completely, but every time he drove, and something squeaked or soemthing went wrong with the car, it was because I messed up his car. There was no way he could just forget, and so I was in a position where there was no way way I could pay the debt, and erase my sin. I was stuck  and it was ruining our relationship. We both were unhappy, and without a solution. So one day, dad, stepped in, after seeing the deepening hole in our friendship, and sat us both down, and asked Rob, what would make this go away so we never have to remember. After some thinking and talking, we came to the conclusion that if we helped Rob get a different car, then he would be able to move on. We could go on working on our friendship, and I could be eleviated from my guilt. There was no way I could pay the money necessary to help  Rob buy a new car, so dad offered to help. He asked me how much I could pay and offered to make up the difference. In this Rob and I were both freed from our burdens. Every time I tell this story I tear up, because I think of my tiny little mortal situation here with a car and a debt I owed, and the guilt and shame i felt from that. And then the joy and peace, and gratefulness I felt to dad, when i was freed from my burden. When I think of all of our situations with our sins, somehting we could never pay on our own, but the Savior stepped in and offered to pay the price, at great cost to himself. I am amazed at the amazing unimaginable gift of the atonement, and I am especially greatful for the wonderful father I have. While he is not perfect, he knows how to show his son, what the savior would do, if we were in his shoes. Words can not express my love and gratitude for my earthy family, and most definitely not for our brother Jesus Christ, who has done so much, and asks so little.

I am so greatful for each of you, and your examples to me. I know our family is not perfect, and there is no reason in particular I am saying this, but I really feel, that at times our family needs to look at one another, in the way Christ would see them, and not as the world, or Satan would have us see. I love each and every one of you with all my heart. I know with all my heart that Jesus is the Christ, and only through him, and his church can we be saved. I am so greatful to share that with the people here, at times my language is a barrier, but I know that if I try my hardest the Lord will make up the difference, that I can not. Love you all.

Gonzalo is still doing well, we also had a lesson with his father Filipe, and set a baptismal date. Christina had to cancel our appointment, and so we haven't had a lesson with her. We had a lesson with Martin, but he was really upset about his kids being loud and not being able to talk to us with his full attention. I am still not sure how that lesson went, I think it will be good, and we will be going back asap. This week we found a lady named Maria, who I really feel has some sincere desires, hopefully we can do all we can to be the instruments in the Lords hands to help her into the path.

Family I am doing great, my health is great, if you could please pray for me, and specifically pray that i will have the courage, and clear mind to do all I need to to be obedient and diligent, I would love it! Sorry this is soo long, hopefully it is helpful for someone. love you all! pray for all of you every night!

until next week,
Elder Zimbelman

P-Day trip

Hey, we went on a trip to a place called Villa Pehuenia yesterday, and there were some things that went wrong and we got back too late to write yesterday, SORRY! I really feel bad, and there is a lot I want to write about, but I am just gonna give a short report. I just want to make sure you all know im totally fine, I can just imagine that mom was worried when i didnt write yesterday! 

It truly was an awesome little trip. We went with the Cuevas family who are members here in Cutral Co. They are soo helpful and Adrian, the dad, speaks English so that is always nice. The people that went were me and my companion Elder Pack, who i have a couple pictures with, Adrian Cuevas and his family, and an investigator family that will be getting married soon so they can be baptized. it was beautiful day, and something I will never forget!

As far as the real important stuff, our investigators, we are doing well. We havent been able to teach Martin and Vanina for a little while because they went on a trip, and then he had to leave for work. We had an appointment scheduled but they weren't there, so with them we are kind of stagnating. Hopefully this Thursday we will go there and have a great lesson. 

We had an amazing lesson with Gloria and with Adrian (who we went on the trip with) and she is ready for baptism. We are going over there tonight, and we are going to have a great lesson, she has a baptismal date of the 22 of this month. Also this week we found a guy named Gonzalo, who is golden! We taught him, and he really took it well. We asked him how he was feeling, and he talked about feeling warm inside, and how we had 

something special, and so we commited him to baptism, and got him started reading the Book of Mormon. We will be going by there tonight. When we invited him to be baptized, he acepted and said buenisimo! Which is like saying awesome or really good. it was sweet! 

We also had a lesson with another investigator that we hadn't been able to find for a while, and when we finally talked to her again, she is super ready. We are going to visit her tonight, and set a baptismal date with her, her name is Christina. 

So we are finally starting to see some success. I think what has made the difference this week, is that we had a really good district meeting with our zone leaders, and they talked alot about setting baptismal dates, becasue only through baptism can people enter into the straight and narrow path. 

I love each and every one of you, and dang! I want to write a ton, but we need to go and work today! love you all, I will catch you up more next week! The gospel is true, and I am loving sharing it with the people here, we are soo blessed to have everything we have, and it is a shame if we dont try and share it! Love you all, read your scriptures, say your prayers, and everything will work out great! Keep your letters coming, it is a highlight of my week to read about each of them! 

Love you all and until next week. You are all in my prayers, please remember me too! I know you are because I can feel the Lord blessing me from time to time with more than I deserve, so I know it must be because of you guys! Sorry about the lame letter! It won't happen again, if I can do anything about it!

Love, 

Elder Zimbelman

Hola! (mostly unedited)

Christian has limited time to write and prefers "writing lots" to "taking time to write every thing perfectly". As this is a long letter and I want to get it posted I will let you enjoy it raw, unedited and full of his enthusiasm.

Missionaries at the airport in Buenos Aries

On the bus to Neuquen

The bus to Neuquen

Hey guys! man, i love reading your letters! they make me soo happy! MAN!! wasn't conference amazing!?! I just ate it up,(i seriously had such a spiritual hunger! ahh i love it!) and was soo sad when it was over! We watched it at our capilla, where they have a satellite so it was live, I watched a couple talks in Spanish, but we took over the nursery, all of us gringos, and plugged a TV in there, and watched it in English! man, English is way better! ha, seriously i feel bad for all the people who cant speak English, because as i watched it in Spanish, it was not nearly the same, how blessed we are to speak English! It made me very excited for the day when we will all live in an exalted state and be able to communicate with each other, with perfection! That is one thing that i have been learning daily here, how important the ability to communicate, sometimes, in our lessons i get feelings of how much the gospel could bless this person´s life, and i usually can express them, but not in the same way, as if i was speaking English! count your blessings! 

       

 I had a good week! we weren't able to teach martin and vanina, because he was gone the whole week to go and work in the oil fields, and a bunch of our other appointments fell through.. so we did a lot of knocking, and visited a lot of less actives to invite them to conference. We also had a really good lesson, with an investigator named Gloria, who is catholic, and firmly believes that her baptism as a child was valid, which is her only doubt stopping her from baptism, we have talked a million times about authority, about receiving the holy ghost, about how if she knows the Book of Mormon to be true, then she knows that the true church was restored through a prophet, sooo many different things, it´s hard!! she´s starting to soften, and i think she said she would be baptized again, but it would be in her own time! ahh how i just ache to share the gospel with these people! We were talking with her one day, and she was telling us how she didn't feel that she was worthy to pray, she felt that she couldn't ask her heavenly father for blessings, because she had done so much evil in her life, and when she said that, it was amazing, something inside me jumped, and excitement just filled my body, because of how beautiful the atonement is, think about it, we are here, we can a lot of the times fix a lot of mortal illnesses and things of that nature, but how can we forgive sin? its impossible! eventually, if left to our own merits we would get so burdened down with our sins, and mistakes, that we would become a child to the devil, and be subject to his rule! how bleak, and hopeless!! but there is  light! there is hope, and that is what we get to share with people! I eat it up! I love serving the lord, its hard, but alot of the time, but that´s only because we make it hard, because when we truly have faith in the lord, and that we are in his hands, no importa! what happens! 

this week I read about the allegory of the wild and the tame olive trees in the master´s vineyard (in Jacob) and usually when we read that we think about all the people and the civilizations and all those things, but when i read it in Spanish, something that i learned, and i really like, is how perfect the analogy of a fruit tree is, we are like the fruit of a tree, and god is our master, he wants to have us as fruit, and will do everything he can to help us fulfill our potential, (but anyways, just a little more to help this analogy i like this in conjunction with what i shared last week about god being the creator, so he has all power to control our environments, and really the ability to control us, as well, but he wont do things that will take away our agency, because that is contrary to his plan, and is like if you give someone a million dollars, or if they earn it, there is more gained in the working, than in the result a lot of the time) anyways, we are the fruit, and god wants us as the fruit, he could pump us up,with artificial whatever, and do his thing, but we would loose something in the process, and so he works and works and prunes, and does everything to help give us the environment that will be the best for us, so we need to just trust in him, and know that he knows best, so when we visit a home of a single mother, who struggles to feed her 3 children, and she shares her food with us, and tells about some hard times they are having, i love to share this knowledge, and assure them, that our heavenly father knows us, knows us perfectly, and gives us the things that will best help us to grow.. how beautiful! what an opportunity we have!

 This seemed to be a general theme i noticed throughout conference, that the whom the lord loves he tries, man, I loved general conference! another theme that i seemed to notice, especially in priesthood, but throughout the conference, was that the lord wants us to open our mouths, elder Holland put it quite frankly, in relating the experience of Joseph smith just before the first vision, he said how interesting it is that Satan has real power, and if he could only bind the tongue of Joseph, he would be successful, how interesting that is, whether that is sharing our knowledge of the gospel and our association with the church, standing up for something that is evil and not right, or if it is turning to our heavenly father in prayer, I have noticed at times that this is a problem i face, i sometimes do not want to open my mouth and loose my tongue, but in the scriptures we are promised, that if we treasure up the things of heaven, it will be given us in the very moment what we are to say, and we will not be confounded before men, also says in other scriptures, open your mouths, and they will be filled, what promises! especially for me, when i am trying to speak another language! ha! but it has been amazing to me, when i open my mouth, and begin speaking, how the lord blesses me! I believe that is why i have been able to learn the language, because the lord has blessed me, as i have opened my mouth. Family, I love you all soo much! and you all give me such strength! I was thinking about each of you throughout the conference, and what you were doing, I am soo glad to have a family that cherishes the gospel so much in their lives! what a blessing!!

to answer a few more questions

we invited a ton of investigators and less actives, but only a few showed up, and we were specifically focusing in on gloria, and promised her that if she would come, she would have answers to her questions, we called her, and did alot to get her to come, and she was very excited, and promised she would, but the devil was working on her, and she didn't come.. it breaks my heart, because as i sat there and thought about her, and her need for the gospel, there were talks in conference, that were specifically for gloria, I knew it, and I think i feel a tiny bit of what the lord feels when we reject his teachings, and bring upon ourselves unneeded pains.

family i love you soo much! I am doing so well! I feel closer to my heavenly father, and more in tune with the spirit than i ever have previously in my life! and I have been learning more and more, about what things make us happy! I love you all! Miss you all, at times, but i would not trade this experience for anything in the world! because I love my heavenly father, and the people here, and frankly, the lord can use me better here! ha, I love you all, keep reading and truly feasting in the scriptures, and wrestling with god in prayer, and I have no doubt that everything will be as the lord desires, which means perfect! love you all, have a great week, thanks for your letters, and cant wait til next week to hear from you again!

love, your son, brother, but best of all Elder, Christian Zimbelman

Hey Everyone!

Sunrise in his city (or maybe it was sunset?)

* for some reason Christian did not get our letters before he wrote his so he didn't know of Mark's accident. He sent me a quick message telling me he didn't change much.

Hey guys! 

Well from what I have heard it sounds like it has been a pretty crazy week at home. One scripture that comes to mind is in Jacob 4:8 or also in 2 Ne 28: 29-32. I dont know if it´s exactly the same in English, (I don't read in english anymore if I dont have to). I really love these scriptures, becuse it tells us more about the nature of God, and what He expects from us.  It is super applicable for me as a full time dedicated servant of the lord, but it totally applicable to every one of us too. Often we rely on the arm of flesh for our support, but God is the creator of everything around us, everything!! Think about that! Whenever we have a problem we can turn to Him and He will help us! If he lets us struggle for a little bit, it isnt because he doesnt love us, it is becasue we learn through hard times, and often times we have hard times so that we can turn to the Lord, and rely on him, as well as gain experience. I love thse scriptures, because I don't know about you guys, but if I were left to my own merits, there would be very little that would turn out right. It doesnt matter what it is, with the Lord, we will come out the better! What a comfort!! So I challenge each of you to turn to the Lord whenever there is a hard time or something that doesnt work out perfectly, and see if things don't change for the better, that could be your attitude, or something else. Also remember Ether 12:6. 

Oh man! I love the mission! The lord is helping me to grow and learn so much! I had no idea how imperfect I am! But with the lord, when we put absolute trust and faith in him, and do all we can to be obedient, and do our part, miracles will happen. I have a testimony of that, and am so excited to be able to see miracles in the lives of our investigators and in my life, what an amazing opportunity it is to serve a mission.

 A common question is how is my Spanish, and its coming! It seems right now my ability to listen and understand people is really starting to kick in, and i love it! I still don't understand a lot, but if we are talking about important things, like the gospel, I rarely don't understand, which is such a blessing! This week we went and had a lesson with one of our investigators, who we were considering dropping, because she wasn't progressing. When we went there we addressed many doubts and had a beautiful lesson, which was only possible through the holy ghost. I know that because, first of all my companion has been kinda sick this week, and out of it, so I did pretty much all of the talking, and it was amazing how everything went. I am always amazed at what the Lord can do with me, as imperfect, and stubborn as I am. But that is what this life is about, learning how to become the tools the Lord wants, until one day, we know enough about the way He works, that we are able to try things on our own. I think it is then that we become like Him.. who knows, but I know for right now, and probably for the next 50 million years I wont be able to do things on my own.. mind boggling stuff.. but what we can do now, is work work work, and get better, like it says in Alma 37: 6-7 it is through small and simple things that come about the great and eternal plans of our creator. Improvement and progression is one of those small and simple things, where over time after changin and improving day by day, we have improved immeasurably.. how awesome! 

Well guys things are great here, I tried nouquis this week and it was amazing, i also have been having mileanesa a lot, and a lot of empanadas, I love it! Always we eat bread with our meals, and the everyone is always drinking their mate (we can't) things are awesome. Martin is out of town and will get back this Thursday, so we have been calling him and seeing how he is doing (he works in an oil field and is gone for a week and has a week back, which is really hard on him and his family, I think that is one of the reasons he has been so focused on his family.. just imagine if you had that sort of schedule.. wow). We started teaching another family the parents are Dario and Selvina, and they are both super evangelico, but they are very open and receptive to our message, and it helps that the hermanas are teaching dario´s brother, so he is even more open. Those are our progressing people right now, and we have a bunch more people who are either stagnant or brand new, so I will give you updates on the important stuff.. Anyways!! love you guys! Hope things calm down, and ultimately that we turn to the Lord when we have hard times, because alot of the time that is the purpose of hard times.

Love you guys! I am doing soo well here! havent had a bad day yet! :)

Love, Elder Zimbelman

Living quarters

Front Door, kitchen area. Study area behind when taking picture

Study area... back to kitchen and front door. Notice wood wall and door at the end...on the other side is... 

the Bedroom... we didn't get pictures of the bathroom and yes they sleep in sleeping bags in this mission.

How is everyone doing!? this week was good for me, we found a new investigator whose name is Martin, and he is absolutely golden!! We were knocking in some apartments, after a hard day of working and having all of our appointments fall through, and no one was ever home. It was probably around eight at night, and Elder pack told me to choose somewhere to knock. So we went in this building, all the way to the top, and he said "ok, its your turn to knock" so i knocked on the door and he amazingly let us in. He always talked about how his family is the most important thing in the world to him, and was super receptive, and we had a really good lesson. I believe i already told you that much, but we have gone back, and the next time hs wife was there, so she joined us. She was just as amazing and really receptive, and when we were asking them to read, he said they were going to read the section in the Book of Mormon that we had given them that night as a family, we were soo excited! Then we had a couple days before the next lesson, and we were gonna play futbol with some investigators, so we invited him. He came and we had a lot of fun. Afterwards we were talking to him, and turns out he is married, which is a huge bonus! That practically never happens here. We went back the next day, and had a really good lesson about priesthood authority, and why our message was so important, and they took it soo well. They are super humble, and really sincere. They also had questions about baptism. They didn't believe infant baptism was good, because they didn't believe children had the ablility to choose and stuff like that. They wanted to know what we thought about that and if they were being bad parents because they hadn't baptized their children. It was a great opportunity to show how awesome the Book of Mormon is, and to show them what we believe. It was really cool, and it is amazing to see how the Lord has been preparing them, and how they are soo receptive to our message. 

Well fam there is so much that goes on here, I wish I could just write a little novel and send it to you guys to tell you about everything, but the investigators are the most important thing, that is why we are here.

Family i love you so much, the lord has definitely been helping me every day, the Spanish is here some days, and not others, there are certain people that i can understand practically perfectly, and others I can't understand a word.. so it is kind of hit and miss, but I really have felt the Lord helping me. When I have the spirit in a lesson, it doesnt matter how well I can speak, all that matters is that I open my mouth, and the spirit teaches them what they need to know. I take alot of comfort in that, because it is something that I need right now soo much.

well, love you all, look forward to Mondays when I get to hear from you!

 

love, Elder Zimbelman 

Here are a few other things he told me:

Mom, I am doing soo good! we get fed by the members every day, and we have a bunch of sisters in the branch who if we stop by they give us food, or fix our clothes, they also do our laundry for us, its really pretty nice here, we are really well taken care of by the members. Well its getting cold there, and it is just getting warm here! hahaa, I am going to be spoiled, with two summers in a row, but we are wearing t-shirts for the first time today, and it is soo nice here! Everything is super brown, and it will probably only get greener in the trees becasue the ground is all dirt everywhere, rarely do people have grass in their yards, but the people are amazing here, and we are well taken care of. 

Proof is in the picture

Doesn't he look great! Especially after being on the road for soooo many hours.

PS the writing is normal... not effected by exhaustion.

Love from Argentina

* Elder Zimbelman's first letter from the field, 

we discovered more of the story of his arrival in Argentina as he answered questions in personal emails and from a phone call from the mission office... after the letter*

Hola familia,

¿como estan? Yo soy aqui en aero puerto una area k tiene casi no arbols and muchas tierra..   

Anyway, the name of the city I am in is Cutral Co it is West of Neuquen. Our house is pretty small, but the toilet works, the shower  is warm, and we have running water, and the place stays warm, so it  is all good. It is definitely a different experience here than in the states, but it has not been nearly as hard as i thought it was going to  be. The language is super difficult to understand, and if it´s someone that speaks clearly and we are talking about the gospel I can

understand close to 80 percent of what they say. But there are some  people, like our president´s wife.. haha, that I can't understand at all. But everyone here has been saying I am really good at Spanish. Usually missionaries come and cant speak at all, but I have been able to contribute a lot in all of our lessons and it has been a good experience so far. 

We have about 10 investigators right now, and I  haven't got to meet all of them yet, but I look forward to be able to meet them. Sorry this is kind of jumbled, but there is just soo much to tell, and I am kind of tired. It seems that I am tired here all the time! But its OK, the Lord strenghtens me when I need to be strengthened. My companion Elder Pack is from Holliday, Utah, (a suburb of SLC for those not familiar with Holliday) and only has about 14 weeks left in the mission. He is a good guy, and I enjoy being here with him.

 As some of you mentioned, the field is definitely different than what you think it is.. Sometimes I feel that we could be doing more, or using our time better, but its all right, I will get accustomed to being here, and being on a mission, and then I will work more on what is the best way to do things, for now I mostly just trust that he knows what he is doing.. he has been in this area for 4 transfers or something ridiculous like that, so he pretty much knows the area back and forth, and knows a lot of the people. It isnt nearly as beautiful here as it is in Utah, there isnt really anything green... mostly just dirt. But I really have come to love the people, and the food, we have empinadas and pasta alot, and I am loving it here. 

We have one new investigator, and it was an amazing experience for me. His name is Martin, and it was late in the night, como 8 and we were having a hard time finding places to go, because we had visited all our investigators and knocked some doors, but no one was home. So we went and were knocking an apartment. The first door I knocked, I gave a really broken introduction and this guy let us in. He was super open and told us how important his family is to him, and so we talkd with him for a while, and he was super receptive. I feel really good about it, that was probably the highlight of my time here, just being able to see the light in someones eyes and to be able to testify with all my soul that I knew that what we have to share will change his life forever. It is such an amazing opportunity. 

Another investigator I found, my first night in Neuquen, was when I was with one of the Elders from Peru, Elder Leon, he was soo amazing. We found this kid named Christian, and at first glance he was super rough looking, had multiple gnarly pearcings in his ears and in his nose I think, and lived in the most humble circumstances. But when we went in there he just had such an open heart and was very receptive. We gave him a Book of Mormon. He had questions about how could there be a God with so many bad things happening  in the world, and we were able to help him, and turn him to the Book of Mormon. It was really special for me, and I really have started to love the people here. They are so nice to me, and try soo hard to listen to what I say, I love it. 

Well fam, there is soo much I could write, but this is what is important: I am healthy, happy, and in the service of the Lord, so for the moment, I don't know how things could be much better. I love it, thanks for all you do.

Love from Argentina,

Elder Zimbelman

Travel saga below if you haven't had enough to read yet... 

Christian left the MTC in Provo around 10:00 am Monday morning (Sept 5) He and his traveling group flew to Atlanta and then overnight to Buenos Aires arriving Tuesday morning around 8 AM. Tuesday afternoon those continuing on caught a flight to Neuquen. A two hour flight I believe. About 7 minutes from Neuquen the plane turned around and headed back to Buenos Aires. We are not sure the reason. The woman from the mission office speculated that it may have been because of the volcano in Chile although there was no ash in the air... she just didn't know. They arrived back in Buenos Aires, around 9:30 pm and went straight to the bus station and caught a bus to Neuquen leaving at 10:30 pm. The 710 mile bus ride took them 18 hours. It pains me just thinking about it... no wonder he's tired! They were fed at the mission home and got a good's night rest before a day of training in Neuquen and then off to his area, Cutral Co.

Argentina, Here I Come!

This week has been awesome, we got two new teachers, and we were worried that they were going to be super lame and no fun this last week of the MTC, but they have turned out to be pretty awesome! I know the lord is watching out for us!

Last night was our last chance to hear from a quorum of the Twelve in our firesides and we definitely got lucky. Elder Holland came, and it was an amazing spiritual feast as one might expect from him, ask dad or Jen or mom for notes from it! It was awesome! He does seem to be getting old though! 

Oh man, I am somewhat sad to be leaving the MTC. It has been such a place of spiritual growth and development for me, more than I could ever have imagined. It really has been a humbling, but at the same time a very uplifting experience. I love the MTC and I will always look back to my time here, as a cherished time in my life. One of the biggest blessings I have had has been to be able to be the District Leader for the Elders in my district. It has taught me so much, and the Lord truly has magnified me in my calling far beyond my own potential. My love for the elders in my district has grown immensely. It is always amazing to me, the way the Lord likes to humble me, and then give me success. An example of this is that every Sunday we have a district meeting that I am in charge of and we assign two elders a  topic that they get to teach. Of course I usually forget to remind people, or assign them, until it is practically the day of, but it always amazes me, what power comes when we invite the spirit, and then follow it in our meetings. This last week, I was pondering what I could share with my elders in our meeting, and I thought i should teach about charity. It seemed a little random, but I followed it, and it was amazing how the spirit led, and I was able to see the message really sinking into the hearts of the elders in my district, and I was able to see a change of heart. I guess that is what has been my favorite thing about the MTC, is the chance to be an instrument in the Lords hands, to help bring about a change of heart in the elders in my district. I truly have felt that as I shared these experiences with the elders, as my thoughts were solely about them, a change came in me, where I was able to be bettered in the process as well. The lord loves us, and wants us to rely on him! 

I am so excited to be able to go and be the Lords tool in bringing the people of Argentina unto him. I can not think of a better way to spend my life, and it truly is a lifestyle, we need to be trying constantly to bring the people around us unto Christ, and as we do that we, ourselves come unto him.

Family I love you, so much! I know the lord loves you! I always can feel of your love through your letters, I felt it last night, and it brought me to tears of joy, to think of the love that you have for me! Thank you so much for your good spirits! Keep doing what is right, and don't worry about the rest! for the lord will take care of you!!

Love, Elder Zimbelman

Love the MTC

Dear family,

I can not even express how much I love your letters! Thank you, they are always such  a blessing to me! Well my time at the MTC is coming to a close, we signed our visas yesterday, and we will be getting our travel plans tomorrow! I am very excited, but also quite nervous, my Spanish is pretty good, but it is soo hard to understand native speakers when they are just talking. I can understand most of it, but like with the consulate yesterday it was hard to understand him about 25 percent of the time, because he just talks so fast, and slurred, but its all good, I know I´ll pick it up quickly!

This week has been amazing, I really have been able to feel the Lord working through me. One experience that was very humbling for me. On Friday, I had the opportunity to take one of the elders who was struggling aside, and just talk to him. It was amazing. We had been talking a lot about listening, and the power in just listening. This elder has been struggling to love his companion. As we talked his attitude was not really changing and at one point he told me that if i continued to try and help him and if i told our branch presidency that he was struggling, that he was not going to talk to me at all, and was just going to ignore me. I don't know why, but when he said this it really struck me to the core and I started becoming teary. I think it was because of the love I felt for him, and I realized how difficult at times my calling is. There are times where I have to sacrifice of myself, so that I can serve others, and that is what a calling is really about, serving others. At this point, I proceeded to follow the spirit, and I used mom´s age old question, and said "Elder who are you listening to?". We talked and I  started to understand his attitude. We just kept on talking, and i was crying, which was weird for me, but I feel the lord blessed me to be able to do that, to show the elder of my love for him. Well we talked, and his attitude didn't really seem to be changing all that much, but I tried my hardest to follow the spirit, and eventually I really just felt the need to listen, and let the spirit work on him. As I listened, he opened up, and shared with me some really hard experiences from his life. It was amazing that after we talked about that for a little,I realized how inadequate I was on my own, but with the spirit, I was able to help this elder change his attitude. He has has been really improving, there is still a lot to be done, but they are progressing, and that is all that really matters.

This week my teacher decided to stop having us teach the difficult investigator who couldn't read, because he felt that that was way too specific of an investigator. So we started teaching my teacher, and try to bring him closer to Christ, as himself, a rm going to BYU, it has proved to be very interesting, and we are going to teach him tonight.

Our other investigator Ramon, we have set a baptismal date with, and we are working with him, it is amazing the power that comes from having a testimony of the Book of Mormon which he has. We prayed with him, and we all felt the spirit witness to him, and everything else has been soo easy!

I know the lord has blessed me in numberless ways, I know that! I count my family among my most precious blessings, I know that pretty much everything that I cherish in my life, is because of you guys, and you striving to follow Christ. I love each of you so much! I love the Lord,vHe can make us stronger than we could ever imagine, all he asks is that we show forth our faith through our actions, think about that.

I love you all, have a great week!

love, Elder Zimbelman

Hey ya´ll only 2.5 weeks left!! crazy!

Hola mi familia! como estan? First of all I feel impressed to share an experience I had last night, with all of your. Last night after an amazing fireside, our district was talking about prayer and one of the counsellors in my branch presidency asked us if we knew the longest we had ever prayed? He suggested that we try and actually spend some time praying, so last night as I went to bed I started my prayers and I prayed for each one of you and for all the elders in my district as I do every night, and I did something that I don't know if I have ever really done before, and that was I asked to know the will of the Lord in my life (all in Spanish of course :) then I just listened with an open mind, and a pencil and some paper, and things just started coming to me, so by a little light I have I started writing my impressions down, and it was amazing how much the Lord blessed me with inspiration. There was not enough speed in my hand to write down the things the Lord was trying to tell me. One of the things I felt, was to share this with you. I challenge each one of you to pray, and then listen for the lord to speak to you, and make sure you have something to write on, because he will! He wants us to talk to him! I have a testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost, I am striving for its guidance constantly in my life, because I know without the Lord we are nothing. No matter how smart or brave or good looking we are, the lord can make us better. We only need to make sure we are in tune to the spirit, so we can be an effective tool in the hands of the Lord. I really love that analogy and I am striving for that in my life.

Things with my district are going very well, we had a companionship that was not getting along very well, and so one of the members of my branch presidency sat down with both of them and talked with them, and since then their attitudes have changed, and things have been much better.

On Sunday I had such an amazing day, first of all we had the district president (President Hacking) attending all of our meetings. It was awesome to feel his love and his spirit. We are so lucky with the leaders that are here in the mtc. A common theme throughout that day, as dictated by the spirit to me at least, was the lesson taught in 2 Ne 34:32-34, which is that we need to be the person we want to be in the future, today! If we say, well when I get out in the mission field, it will be easier then, and I'll be a better missionary, we will be disappointed. The same missionary we are here, will be the same missionary we are there, and the person we are on our mission, will be the same person we are for the rest of our life, so I am making the changes in my life so that I am the best missionary i can be TODAY! Now is the time to change, and it is by small and simple things that great things are brought to pass (Alma 37:6-7). So we need to start doing something now, no matter how small it is, to become the person we want to be. I know that through these principles we will all be able to be the person we want to be in the future, and the person we want to be throughout the eternities!

One of the biggest strengths I have had in my service, is from 2 Ne 32:9 "consecrate all thy doings unto the Lord". I have been striving to start and finish everything that I do, with a prayer so I can be blessed with the Lord's guidance. 

Family! I love you soo much, and I am so grateful that I am able to spend eternity with you! Start now to become the people we want to be there! I have such a strong testimony. This week we had one lesson with our progressive investigator, where we were trying to listen to the spirit, but we were imperfect in that, and kept on asking him to pray, and it seemed no matter how we asked, or what we taught, he would not agree to read, and eventually he got frustrated and kicked us out.  Then the spirit spoke to me, and told me that he did not know how to read. I felt pretty foolish, the spirit is key in everything we do! 

We had another lesson, with our other progressive investigator, where we followed the spirit and it bore witness to him and to us, right then and there that the Book of Mormon was true, it was tangible! We had him recognize it, and even thought it was a "fake" situation, the spirit bore witness and to the point that our investigator was crying. The spirit is key in everything that we do in our lives! It will never lead us astray!!

Well this letter is extra long, so I apologize if your personal letters aren't as long as usual, just know I am striving to follow the spirit in everything that I do, and that I feel this is what will bless you the most! I love each and every one of you, and pray for you individually and for you needs! I love you, and know our Father in Heaven loves you, more than anyone else! Even me, which means, probably more than we could ever understand!!

 

Love you all, read and pray! do it!

 

Elder Zimbelman

Week 3 in the MTC

Elder Zimbelman and good friend Elder Campbell

NOTE: Christian did write to us last week but it was a hand written letter. I was at girls camp when it came and I have not yet typed it up (and may not at this point) Enjoy his letter from this week:

Hola mi familia! que tal? esta semana fue muy bien, esta semana fue un poquito interesante, primero, ultimo jueves, en Inglais..  (note: If you want to translate this feel free, I have no idea what it says)

One of our elders went home, it was rough for all of us for about a day, but we're now all doing well. What made the difference, was one of the district presidents came to our room and talked to us for a second, and suggested that we give a blessing for the companion of the Elder who went home, and suggested in that blessing we ask the Lord to bless us not to have a spirit of discouragement. So once he left, and the missionary who we were giving the blessing to, asked me to give the blessing, we proceeded, with all of us placing our hands on his head, it was a really cool experience. and ever since then, we have all been doing great. And since Elder ***** went home, our district has actually been doing better than we were doing before, in respect to our district working better together, and staying more focused, and the spirit has been more constant. It has been a blessing in disguise.

Last Friday was our first time in the TRC (teaching resource center), where we go and teach volunteers, who pose as investigators, and we gave our first full 40 minute lesson in 100 percent Espanol. It was a little rough at times, but it was an overall good experience.

I have been singing in the choir, and it has been an awesome experience, I love the spirit that comes when we sing. This Tuesday we were practicing for the fireside that night, and they were doing last minute preparations, and they were checking everywhere, like under chairs, and in walls for bombs and stuff, and so we thought it was for sure going to be one of the twelve and we were super excited. But as the meeting started, it was an emeritus 70,  Dennis E. Simmons. At first we were somewhat disappointed, but as he started to speak, we felt silly that we were disappointed. The spirit came, and that was all that matters. He talked about the sanctification process, and how it is during the doing of stuff, the hard stuff, that we grow and become better. He also talked about how when we are baptized we are given the gift of the holy ghost, but it is our choice to receive it.  So it is really up to us to receive the gift, because what good is a gift given, if it is not received?

This week has been great, I've been growing, and learning a lot. I"m loving the MTC, it is such a great place! I love you all, thank you so much for your letters! tomorrow I have my first day of SYL (speak your language), where I can only speak Spanish for the whole day, so pray for me! :) Hey I'll try to write personal letters, but right now we've got class. sorry! There is never enough time to write everything I want!

Love you guys so much! thanks for your prayers!

love, Elder Zimbelman