Elder Cutler

Dear Family

San francisco de limache is thrilling. the weather is nice, real nice. and there´s brown and orange leaves all over the ground. The new president arrives around the 20th i think.

I saw a news clip about the supreme court justice, which seems radical. every latino down here loves Obama, and the news of a latina was quite thrilling for all.

this week we met a family of 3, the mom is a less active, and the dad and son are legit. the kid´s 9 and way smart, and they accepted baptism dates, so that´s radical, the wife is hyped.

elder owen is a hard worker, and walks faster then all the comps i´ve had, and works harder than them all, diligent and obedient. he´s from sandy, ut.

let david get a bike, he more than deserves it. but he has to give my leather jacket back (if that´s mine in the pics) you look like a thug dave. what do you do nowadays? stay positive bro and never doubt. yourself or anything. do what you know to be right and live your life. i don´t really know what to say. but i really love you guys, ok? just be happy everyone.

Love Elder Cutler

.

.

PS from vickie- Danny is struggling right now, this is a hard time in the Mission I guess too.

Oso y Earthquakes

Here is a letter from Elder Dan.



Well this week has been good. kind of. we got oso all week. oso means bear, but it´s like getting ditched basically. yeah. this week was not too good. we had to run dario´s fecha, so this change will be sin bautismo, which is fine, but this sector has been baptismless for 4 changes or something wild. so we´re trying. dario is still good though, progressing, so we´ll have a baptism after changes. iris too, but she´s been out of town for a while. so bummer. i bought some classical music last pday, so that is amazing. juan perez, the legit old cop, gave us some ties. he´s a man and a half, and his stories are nuts. but he´s still con viviendo.... so bummmmer for him... it sucks ´cause he wants to be baptized so bad, but in his situation he can´t. his señora receives a pension from her old husband, and she uses it to support her kids, and doesn´t want to marry juan ´cause she´ll lose it. struggles man. i got my carnet, or chilean ID, today. so basically i´m chilean, which is thrilling. umm pig fever? swine flu? what´s that all about. people are quite bothered down here. i hear mexico took a huge hit. in other natural disaster news; there was a minor eathquake. exciting, i know. we´re all anxiously anticipating "the big one". every 5-7 years chile has an eathquake. it´s been 8, and according to the cycle of things, this is supposed to be a giant one. i´m hyped. in other news: i´m 168 lbs. WHAT THE HECK.

love you guys.

dad, temple work is radical.
allison, way to go with maria and school, you rock.
mom, "do you realize that you are a champion in my eyes" - kanye west.
rae, you didn´t write me. but thats ok. keep it legit.
david, david david david david. write me fool. you´re my only brother. i´ve got 2 sisters and 2 parents, but only 1 brother. so write me!

Kaliedescope

My Sister in Peru-One Story

( I can't figure out where the pictures went for now, sorry)

After the earthquake--

Ysabel Cuya is a mother of 5, whose husband was put in jail 4 years ago. She is very active, has an autistic child and lost her job at the hospital when the earthquake took it down. She lives in a tent. Three of the children have been put in a state school for their education and protection. She is living off of her food storage. She has title to her land and so she is on the list to have a new house. She is becoming a bricklayer in our education program so she can help build her home. They are both our missionaries from 20 years ago.

We spent a few more days in the earthquake zone. The first house is one that is waiting for the roof to dry. The second is the house they are making for my missionary, Ysabel. She has 5 kids, 3 are in a youth house in Ica going to school because she doesn't have a house. She has been living in a tent for over a year.

They have started her house. She left her 12 year old daughter and her autistic 14 year old son, who doesn't speak, to come to the church and sign her loan papers so she could take electrician, bricklaying and plumbing classes. While she was gone, people stole 3 of her bricks. She will have them all stored in her tent by morning.

In Pisco, many people are still living in tents even a year after the earthquake. Grim.

The Church donates tons of goods down here. Today we were asked to represent the Church at a Prison in Callao for a large Church Donation. We went and as we were going into the prison we saw one of our missionaries that we had not seen, David Piscoya, he is a doctor and was inside the prison helping. After we took the picture we had to turn in our camera. Then we sat on the stand with the Senator of Callao and he said a lot of nice things about us and the Church in a televised ceremony. There were other things involved, but we had donated over 30 wheel chairs and 1,100 blankets and 1,500 hygiene kits. It was crazy. I am watching the TV now to see how much of us are on there.

When the earthquake hit Pisco, several hundred people were trapped in this church and werekilled. Now they are bringing it down. Notice the mound that they had to build up to getmachine in there to tear it down. That is an interesting solution to the problem.

We are virtually starting from zero here. We are working on a lot of loans to teach people to work in construction and build their own houses. The Laytons, Greadings and Allands and others are building like crazy down here. (private builders from the States-good volunteers)

Ysabel Cuya now has the shell of a house. She wanted us to come down and dedicate it for her so we did. We had a nice little prayer and that was it. Her autistic son was cooking rice over an open fire when we got there. They don't have electricity yet but they are working on it. They have been living in a tent for over a year. They actually still are but are slowly getting things together for the house. She plans on selling things out the front of the house to students in the two schools that pass by her door and are very close. She does have a job right now.

With everyone gone, it really became a thing of just doing it myself. I do not know the final countbut I processed, approved and communicated with in excess of 210 loans during the last coupleofweeks. We did 184 loans all of last year. We are up to 500+ new loans plus we process the ongoing renewals which would be a whole lot more. We are both very busy.

Douglas Earl

(vjc)

Max

Danny's old friend from Colorado, Max Bastian is serving in the same Mission in Chile than Dan is. he is about3 months ahead of Dan. It is so fun for me to see these two little boys now on their mission together. Max is front and center in black,and then backrow 2nd from left in grey. Dan is far right above and middle middle in purple, below.

I just saw Max's parents Rock and Melanie, at spring training,
the only picture i have of Rock is when he is on the phone. I guess he is kind of like Keith that way. Have you ever noticed how many group shots we have where Keith is on the phone?

By the way, Daniel was transfered to way northern misson today.

Chile and the Elder Dan

All´s well in Casablanca.

This is the last week of the change, which is wild. i´m almost 5 months old.

We had a doctor appointment last monday for e´myers, he got some meds and is doing fine now. me; i´m always fine, so no worries there. one of the recent conversos was really sick these past two weeks, i didn´t teach her or baptize her, but i went by with e´nelson a bunch, so i kinda know her, mirna, her name is. anyway we went by and she was really sick and asked for a blessing, so i figured i outta give it a shot. it was rather rough, but good. so i gave my first blessing! not just anointing, so that´s exciting. she´s doing fine now. she´s like grandma, but chilean hyperactive, so you can kinda get a picture.

Also we got a baptism this saturday, Sara, so that´s exciting. we´re teaching her son too, but he´s been so so but when the mom get baptized he´ll see how it is. he´s getting animated about things, so thats good.

work is going good.

i´m cutting more hair,

we got bikes. the pic is of the good one that my comp rides, mine is ghetto-fabulous, which is just how i like things. they´re way sketchy, but we get around a whole lot quicker. and you can tell from the suit that things are cooling down around here. it´s getting really cold at nights. still burning in the day.

you can tell from the picture of me falling on my bum skateboarding. little kids now flock to us like i´m the pied piper. i´ve figured out a couple magic tricks, and i´ve been working on the handstand skateboard ride to keep um on the edge of their seats. it´s fun. the new missionaries in this sector if i leave are gonna be flogged with pleas for magic and skate. ah well. asi es la misíon love you all. david, keep it real hopefully you get my letter soon.
> tell the watts i send my regards, and paul harvey is a voice i know i respect, that´s too bad.

take care family.

The adventures of DAN

We’ve been teaching Sylvia; she´s way nice and cooks good food (all the food here is way good) and her baptism was on Saturday. It was so funny. First off, the water didn´t work so we used a hose and it was cold. Really cold. It freaked Sylvia out and she didn´t bend her legs at all, just kind of slowly tipped back and made a weird noise. Haha. She didn´t get all the way under because she was basically just leaning backwards like she was falling backwards locked solid and her elbow was sticking straight up, so we had to do it again and this time I didn´t take any chances. I used my knee to break her locked knee and dunked her under pretty solid and it was simple and perfect.
We´re also teaching this man named Mario and he´s a police man. It´s really weird teaching him; I’ve never had a cop actually listen to me before! Hahahaha. And he takes my advice and we commit him to do things. It´s odd, a man who would normally frown upon me invites me into his home! But I know it´s not because of me; it´s our message. He is solid. He´s had some crazy things happen recently and we´ve always shown up right after to talk. It´s rad.

Next week we´ve got 3 baptisms with some radical people.
Valesca, who is 28 and is a reading machine (she reads everything we tell her and is solid), is doing good. She has some doubts, but through my muddled Spanish I was able to tell her being baptized twice isn´t condemnation, especially if one is valid.

Also we´re teaching Paloma, she´s the daughter of a woman in the ward who´s not baptized because she´s got some handicap, but she knows right from wrong, and her mom and the bishop say it´s golden and they want us to do it, so that’s fun. She´s sweet and innocent, but impresses me every day we teach her.
And finally Zoila, who is a 16 year old who has some strange doubts, but is awesome and honest with us.

In other news, we´re teaching a witch of light who believes the Book of Mormon to be true and Joseph Smith is a prophet, but is worried about being baptized because she doesn´t want to lose her powers.
We also went to a deaf, less-active member´s house and she asked for a blessing; she has severe depression and was really struggling, so we gave her one. And it was powerful. I anointed her and then we gave the blessing, and while Elder Nelson was giving it, she just started bawling. It was crazy. The spirit was way strong, and keep in mind she´s deaf. But after that she said she felt much better, like a huge weight had been lifted, and we wrote the blessing down for her and left.
Now straying from that spiritual note, I got sprayed with pepper spray, which was wild.
Also, we were contacting this street and we talked to an old woman who couldn´t open the gate so she went in and came out wielding this huge butcher knife. It was thrilling.
Also, a bunch of people think we´re feds or spies, which is exciting. Talking to someone who is just suspicious you´re trying to infiltrate their home is an exciting time.

Tuff

All the baptisms went very smoothy, so that was good. i baptized valesca and paloma so that was rad, and the font was working so the water was warm (did i mention that last time? we had to use the hose and it was freezing). but yeah it was awesome. not much time this week, we've got a district activity. and we have changes this week! crazzzy! hopefully i stick around with elder nelson in casablanca, it´s been really solid and we´ve got some investigators who are so close we just need a little more time with them and they can be baptized. it´s crazy to see people learn and grow and gain a testimony. it´s a wild experience for sure. we had once(food) at the Obiesbos yesterday(see picture above) and it was hilarious. He´s a really funny guy. really nice, too. Their family has been warm and very helpful to us.

I Can' Help Myself

A letter from Dan. Dear fam. And dad.

All is well. Work is good, although I got sick on Friday.
It was a bummer. Saturday waking up was horrible. Bad sore throat, sore cabeza, and sore body, runny nose. But what can you do? We went to work.
Sunday was better, but still rough, and today is fine. I´m getting well, don´t sweat mom. I´m taking care of myself. Lucky for me, the lord´s taking care of me too. And the bishop said i´ll be blessed with a beautiful wife cause i´m working through my fever. Hahaha. So that´s golden, right? 3 guesses who it is (dad) hahah, naw jk.

next week we´ve got 3 baptisms with some rad people. Valesca, who is 28 and is a reading machine (she reads everything we tell her and is solid), is doing good. She had some doubts, but through my muddled, drugged up Spanish, I was able to tell her being baptized twice isn´t condemnation, especially if one is valid.

Also we´re teaching Paloma, she´s the daughter of a woman in the ward who´s not baptized cause she´s got some handicap, but she knows right from wrong, and her mom and the bishop say it´s golden, and they want us to do it, so that’s fun. She´s sweet and innocent, but impresses me every day we teach her.

And finally Zoila, who is a 16 year old who has some strange doubts ,but is awesome and honest with us.

In other news, we´re teaching a witch of light who believes the BOM to be true and joseph smith is a prophet, but is worried about being baptized cause she doesn´t want to lose her powers.

We also went to a deaf, less active member´s house on Sunday and she asked for a blessing, she has severe depression and was really struggling, so we gave her one. And it was powerful. Elder nelson is a stallion. Anyway, I anointed her and then we gave the blessing, and while e´nelson was giving it, she just started bawling. It was crazy. The spirit was way strong, and keep in mind she´s deaf. But after that she said she felf much better like a huge weight had been lifted, and we wrote the blessing down for her and left.
Now straying from that spiritual note, I got sprayed with pepper spray, that was wild. Also, we´re wondering if havasupai is destroyed? Any news on that?

Well fam. I love you all. Thanks for the advice about the people dad.
They´re pretty bomb, so i´m glad to be here in Casablanca for sure. Chileans are legit. Also we met a woman who lived in Bronxville for 4 years, and she speaks a little English, so she wanted to talk to us (most people are catholic and not interested at all, like she was) but only about English. Anyway we´ll see where it goes, she had a nice son, and I fell in love with her latin accent. But not with her, don´t worry.

Alright, keep it street family.

PS. Dave you sound dope. write me, fool. No Members Only for you, gotta find your own. try thrift stores.

And also this cruiser is for sale. Want it david?
PPS. I want one of these vans, so i´m gonna bring one home in my pocket.

Chile!

"The airport was fun, the flight was long, and Chile is awesome. my area is called Casablanca (awesome) and included is a pic. It´s a pretty dope place. me gusta. The people here are nice and stuff, the ward is rad too. only one ward in this town but it´s good. We´re the only missionaries here too, that´s exciting. "

"That´s my trainer in the pic, Elder Nelson from Mapleton Utah. hard work and good trainer.

We´ve been working hard, getting alot of contacts. knocking doors and stuff. "

Danny's Christmas in the MTC

Danny spent this Christmas in the Missionary Training center In Provo,Utah. He is studying and training to serve the People of Chile in South America for two years. What an amazing opportunity this is for him. I am so proud of him.
I guess he really is an Arizona boy entralled by his first real snowfall in years, as evidenced by this Christmas Card he sent us.


He is working and doing what needs to be done.
And doing it every morning all over again.



As I have said many a time before,"I am happy every minute of every day he is where he is."

A Letter from Elder Dan

From: Daniel Cutler [mailto:daniel.keith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2008 2:31 PM
To: keith.cutler@cox.net
Subject: Re: Happy Thanksgiving!

woooooaah! that michael story is crazy! i need his current address. i've got a couple of letters i want to send him. also if you can get camaron's current address and also alex's that would be awesome. and if there is anyway at all you could think of to get kacie woody's address, i'd love that. thanks for the pictures. send more of the fam please! i'm hearing some crazy stories about prop 8 protests and stuff, what's going on with that?
the washington temple was vandalized? how so? that's stuuupid. i mean, that is no way to dispute a law at all. that's a bummer.
thanksgiving here was good, the meal not so much (the food here is not too awesome. nasty cafeteria food, but i eat a lot and smile. your dinner sounds amazing) but we were fed spiritually very well and also emotionally. last week elder holland came and spoke, that was wayyy amazing. and on thanksgiving we did some service with the head of the lds humanitarian effort dept. that was also awesome.
the password for itunes should be 'bossman' so try that. or 'april1989', i'm pretty sure it's the former though.
i wish i coulda seen the rain! i love arizona monsoons so much. it's weird when i think about that i won't be there for another 23 months, but all is well, i love it here. well as much as one can love the mtc, but i try to take full advantage of everything. we go to a referrral center once or twice a week, where we make and recieve calls, either to inquire about receiving a dvd of bible or bom or something, or confirming reception of said item, and it's awesome to talk to real people instead of missionaries pretending to be investigators.
i've sent a bunch of missionaries out to people to give them the book of morm and we can testify and share scriptures with them and stuff. that's funn. also, my favorite of all: FUTBOL! i've been playing soccer as often as i can and its been so fun. 3 days ago we had 12 on 12 and it was awesome.
it's been really fun to play and kick the ball around, run around outside.
on other gym days (when we have it in the morning and can't go out to the
field) i ride a stationary bike at a window into the sunrise. and that is also the highlight of my life. so awesome.
as far as e-mails, it might be best if you could print them out and mail them due to the limited time i have on here. and about this one, please feel free to share it with whomever. i love you, i miss you, i'm doing great. it's crazzzy here, i can't waaaaaaaait to get out into the field (not for soccer, vina del mar,
;) ) and start speaking spanish for real! speaking of which, it's going well. i love you i gotta go. love, daniel keith elder cutler

Neighborhood Garage Sale

I am so tired. Do I start all my blogs that way?

7am Garage sale at the Cutlers!
We did pretty good and cleaned out the Garage at the same time, plus we made a little money for Christmas. (This getting a missionary ready stuff, can be very costly.)
I am glad we "sold it all" so I don't have to do it again tomorrow. We had planned for two days if necessary. The community did the publicity.

It stayed in the 70's too, so the weather was cooperative.

Of course now I have volunteered to help my friend do hers tomorrow. I did say I was not showing up 'till 8:00 though.

Maybe I will have to check out all my neighbors junk. I have some room in my garage.

Elder Cutler

5:30 this morning...

He left a message for his little brother on the mirror in their bathroom. -set me to crying, again.

Words fail me.

He is now on a plane to the MTC in Provo, Utah.

Now is the time to prepare

Today is the day.

Today is the last day of preparation for Daniel's Mission.

He gets set apart tonight. The Stake President is coming here to our house.

His flight leaves around 7:00 am tomorrow morning.

To find out about the Mormons and what Dan will be telling click on;

http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/

Impossible Things are Happening Every Day.

Stake conference, an open house, and the flu. What do all these things have in common? Yesterday, for me!
Danny's missionary open house was the most worrisome. When "the Mom" has the flu for three days, the house becomes a total wreck, and nothing gets baked or cooked. All the more reason to hide in my room when the Ward comes to visit on the spur of the moment, huh?
Keith, Rachel and Mary, pulled it all off while I lay in my bedroom sick.
Good. It was good.

Wha'z up?

"Hey Mom, What's up"?
(This is how Dan always greets me, especially on my cell phone)
"I'll go shopping with ya if ya want".
A surprising second sentence.

We spent all saturday afternoon at the mall of all places, shopping for white shirts and ties, a mother's dream! We bought two suits, two pair of shoes and several shirts and ties. I think this mission thing is really going to happen.

Danny got his Mission Call!

Chile,

Viña del Mar !

Daniel Keith Cutler shaved off his sideburns, cut his own hair,(see his blog) and now he has put on a suit. I have taken his picture to post on my blog for all to see. I want to dance and sing and celebrate.( you will not find that picture on my blog, yet anyway)
He is working on his Mission papers. He turns 19 on the 2nd of April. We love you Danny.

Where is Danny?

I turned Danny's bedroom into storage.

Have you seen "TheRM" (the movie)?

Phoenix does not generally believe in basements or storage space so this room is a beautiful thing. Don't you think basements would be good in a hot climate? Plus there are a lot of Mormons here who do believe in storage so it's odd there are so few.

I only had to air it for a week. Smile. It sure was quiet for a few days. Then Rae and Mom moved in.

Dan is going to school at ASU and working. uh yup. I miss my boy, not the late hours.