Week #4 in Argentina

 We continue to have new experiences in Argentina that challenge us in so many ways but doing thi sas a couple makes it rather fun to figure things out or discuss together how we will do something better thant we tried it the first time.   Each day we immerse ourselves a little deeper into the work we have been called to do in the Pilar Ward.   The picture below explains well why the Mission President asked us to attend in Pilar which is about 40 minutes north of where we currently are living in San Fernando.


The Ward had 12 people baptized today and has baptized over 50 people in the last few months so there is alot of work to do in fellowshipping and helping them understand better what the next steps are after baptism.   We went on some visits with the Elders Quorum President on Thursday night which challenged us with our ability to communicate and also kind of threw us into how much we still have to learn in working with these new members...both the families we visited lived in such humble circumstances with dirt floors it reminded me a lot of the families I taught in Peru as a young missionary...We have mostly been in the nicer areas of Buenos Aires so this was a little eye opening for us.   The Elders Quorum President was a Mission President in the Honduras and works for the Church Temple Department so a pretty impressive man.   We are taking the three sets of missionaries in the Pilar Ward to McDonalds this week to plan out more visits with them to meet members so that will be our plan for the coming week.   We finally got a large air fryer oven to bake some things and I'm sure we will make it a common thing to stop by with treats and talk with these members.   

This week was zone meetings on three days which took most of our time but we got to meet most of the missionaries in the mission and begin to talk about English Connect.   Another of our responsibilities here will be coordinating the English Connect classes for Latino missionaries.   The Church really wants missionaries to learn English during these years as that can open so many doors for them as their missionary service ends including taking college courses through BYU-Pathways.  So we will also begin teaching an English Connect 1 class this week...yes another of the challenges we will face as we continue to learn so much here.   I'm sure we have the classic "Deer in the Headlights" look so often in our first weeks here but we know things will only get easier as we study hard, work hard and pray always for help.   Below are some pictures from the zone conferences...





On Saturday night we were invited to go to dinner with most of the senior missionaries in the South America South area of the Church so the lawyers, physicians, Pathways,  and Humanitarian missionaries.   We met at Pf Changes around 20 minutes south of us which was a lot of fun.   To have a legit Pf Changs near us will be nice when we just want a little taste of home.   Some pretty impressive people that are doing so much over all of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Linda was a little worried about going to Relief Society for the first time with her limited Spanish but sat next to a lady who was visiting from Cedar Hills, UT of all places...the Lord continues to bless us in so many ways to provide tender mercies as we start our service in Argentina.

We love and miss so many of you but know this is where we are supposed to be at this time.

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