Week #25 in Argentina

 Its hard to believe we have been living in Argentina for six months already, in some ways it feels just like yesterday that we arrived full of nerves and excitement as to what the next 18 months would be like.   It has been a great six months, and we have made so many new friends in our Ward, many of whom are new to the Church, that are so faithful in their desires to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.  We had a special experience last week in which we were able to travel to pick up a missionary, Elder Martins, in his current area and drive him to perform the baptism of a Hermana that he had taught during his time in Pilar.   She was so sad when he was transferred and the surprise and joy on her face when she rounded the corner in the chapel and he was standing there dressed in white was wonderful.  New members are so connected to the missionaries that baptize them and they are remembered fondly for the rest of their lives.  

We have been visiting an older sister in the Ward who was inactive in the Church for over 20 years but her son decided to be baptized a few weeks ago so she decided to start coming to Church again and has been so excited to attend with her son and her grandson.   After her first Sunday back at Church she mentioned she just needed a skirt so she could dress up in her best to come to Church as others do.   Linda jumped on that request and we found her a skirt to wear and presented her with the skirt before she attended meetings the next week.  This is a picture of her with Linda on that Sunday, she was so excited and thankful.  What a great sister that has renewed her desire to attend Church with her family.  We love being a part of these life stories in our ward.

We said goodbye last week to 22 missionaries who have completed their service, it's always a bittersweet experience.   On the Tuesday morning before they fly out, we attend an endowment session with them in the Buenos Aires Temple.  What a sweet experience to be in the celestial room with 22 missionaries that have worked and sacrificed so much to bring the Gospel to those in the areas they served.  New members that these missionaries were able to baptize often show up outside the temple to say goodbye to "their" missionaries.  Another sign how much these missionaries mean to these new members.

We were with the zone leaders in the Pilar Zone one day last week and I saw the Book of Mormons they use as they teach each day on the table in front of them, I thought the symbolism was great in how much they use and rely upon the words in the Book of Mormon to teach people of Jesus Christ.  These elders are all in the last months of their mission and their Book of Mormon's have been worn out through daily use in teaching

Last week one of the elders thought he had lost his Book of Mormon, and he was extremely concerned since it had a mission worth of his notes, pictures and thoughts on every page.   Fortunately, we found it locked in the baptismal clothing closet, so crisis averted.

I celebrated the July 4 Holiday by getting a haircut by my new friend, Tom, at Peluqueria Tom.   He is a barber that I randomly picked to go to in downtown Pilar.   Perhaps my choice was inspired as his sister is a member of the Church in Chile and he is very familiar with the Church and even went through the Chile temple during an open house.   A very friendly man who cuts my hair very short (which is probably good at this point my life).    He has mentioned to me that he will get baptized when we can serve wine at his baptism, I figure I have 6-7 more haircuts with him before I leave to have gospel discussions with him.   You can see him to the left in the picture below, he was taking a moment during my haircut to put a video of Chile, his home nation, on the television to watch and discuss as he cut my hair.   And he was right, Chile is a beautiful country, the mountains made me miss Utah.

One of my challenges on this mission is finding enough Diet Coke to drink as the portion sizes here just are not enough to satisfy me.   As we were driving last week, I finally found a portion size that just "might" satisfy me. :)

We have been enjoying the national pride that comes with the World Cup Soccer tournament in which the Argentina Team is playing.  Missionaries are told to avoid the exuberant parties the pop-up after each win.   I will admit I was driving down the freeway when Argentina scored a goal and I was crazily honking my horn with everyone else on the freeway in celebration.   Just another fun memory to file away of this mission.

Another thing we love about Argentina is flowers that bloom all winter long, it is the equivalent of January here now and we see flowers blooming like the ones below in many places

On the other hand, during our apartment inspections we often see many issues with black mold in missionaries apartments.  The humidity in Buenos Aires is so high during the winter that black mold quickly spreads if walls are not cleaned on a regular basis.  Below is an example of one apartment in our mission.  We are constantly educating missionaries how to clean their apartments, some listen better than others, but we love them anyways.

And end this installment, during our inspections we often see entertaining things missionaries to that make us smile as it gives us a glimpse into how they entertain themselves.   The first picture is a full size USA flag made with pass along cards that were taped together and hung on the wall.  We had to remind them that the pass along cards were printed to hand out to people but we admired the creativity of the effort.

Alfajores are an Argentine treat using cookies filled with dulce de leche or other sweets and are found all over the country with a variety of brand names and flavors.  These missionaries decided to create a wall chart with the packages of each kind and giving them a grade of A to F.  They mentioned they spend many an evening prior to going to bed arguing the merits of each.  We took the picture just to make sure we were only consuming the best in our short time here.

We continue to stay busy and awake each day ready to serve in whatever capacity we are called to serve in.  The Lord is good to us and blesses us each day with health and strength to bless the lives of the members, friends and missionaries of this great mission.  We appreciate the love of support of all those who pray for us and missionaries worldwide in this great work.