Week #12 in Argentina

 This past week we discovered that having Easter and General Conference all in one weekend was a pretty special few days in the mission.   The missionaries had over 699 people attend the sessions of general conference, what a great way to introduce the gospel to the people in this area.  We were talking to one set of missionaries that invited around 15 youth on the street to come in and see what was going on in the Church and they all agreed to come in.  I'm not sure they stayed the whole 2 hours of the session but that is one example of how broadly the missionaries try to introduce the Church to anyone they come into contact with each day.   As we have talked to missionaries from South America we have tried to tell them about the Easter traditions we have in the United States and we could tell they didn't quite understand the concept so we made two Easter Baskets for the two Hermanas that live in our apartment complex.   It was a lot of fun to knock on their door Easter morning and give them Easter baskets.  Linda cut some green paper to make the grass for the basket.  I still think they don't understand the whys of what we do but, to be honest, we don't have great answers for that also.

We ran into these two hermanas last week as we were in Burger King and took them for some ice cream.  The missionaries in the mission are all wonderful and such hard workers, we like to treat them when we can to give them a brief break from their labors

And to continue my ongoing thoughts on brilliant things that Argentina does, these plastic cones to put our ice cream cones in are brilliant, no fears of dripping all over hands, where were these things when we had small kids eating ice cream cones?

And just to be fair and even handed there are some things in Argentina I'm not quite sure the why...for instance, why do they put all four wheels on shopping carts on swivels so they all turn rather than only the front wheels turning in the United States??  Lest you think that is a trivial thing, try going down a grocery aisle trying to manage the direction when the back is often going a different direction than the front.   It's likely funny to see me trying to manage a cart like this as we shop.

Earlier this week the mission said farewell to ten missionaries returning home and welcomed 25 new missionaries into the mission.    For whatever reason, Mexico seems to have stopped giving visas to missionaries from Peru in a timely manner so we are receiving many missionaries from Peru that will be here until they receive their visas.   I enjoy it because we do receive some from the cities I served in as a young missionary so it will be fun to learn more about Chimbote and Chiclayo.   We took this picture in the Church where the new missionaries were being trained before being assigned companions and heading out to their new areas.   They are all so nervous but bravely putting their trust in the Lord to go forth and serve.   They come with a lot of luggage!

These days are really busy as companionships are changing, new missionaries are being assigned and we lose missionaries from our district in Pilar that we have grown close to so we are sad we will not see them as much.   It's a little surprising how close we get to some of these missionaries and how much we enjoy helping them in whatever way we can.   While we lose missionaries from our district, we also get to know missionaries that are transferred into our district.  Below is a picture from our first "new" district meeting today.  It's a big district but reflects the success this area is having as missionaries.

We had a chance to visit the area of Boca in Buenos Aires with the other missionary couple in the mission earlier this week also.  Lots of shops, very colorful streets they have repurposed from old tenements near the old harbor docks from long ago.   Fun place to wander, eat and relax for a morning and enjoy time with the Huntsman's who we have enjoyed getting to know.   We hear we are getting another senior couple this winter (August) to work in the office and a single senior sister around the same time so we will enjoy getting to know them also.

We are staying busy this month as we have been asked to inspect the missionary apartments in the farthest North areas in the mission so we are seeing this view alot as we travel.

Beautiful green countryside that is slowly changing over to late Fall.  We love traveling to see these missionaries that are far from the mission home and often the only missionaries serving in these small towns.  It's a big change when they come from the downtown Buenos Aires zones that can be alot like living in New York City.    Our missionary days are full a variety of tasks we help accomplish along with getting to know the members and missionaries in our ward.  We love them and we love serving here in Argentina.