Richardsons in Buenos Aires

 With the recent missionary transfers last week, we are getting to know a number of new missionaries in our Pilar District which now includes two sets of sister missionaries in our district.   We took them out to lunch at McDonalds earlier this week and then went to visit new members so they could get to know them and we could get to know those members better also.   Two of these sisters are from the United States, one from Uruguay and one from Peru.  One of the missionaries from the US has a grandmother that lives in Zarate in our mission and she has been able to visit her grandmother while she has been here.  Interesting how many missionaries have some ties to Argentina as they are called here. Visiting these new members is always a humbling experience as they often live in very humble circumstances but have a strong testimony of the gospel.   One of the biggest challenges for these members is simply getting to church which often includes b...

 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 ...

 Seeing how different countries celebrate holidays has always fascinated us and being in Argentina vor the Easter Holiday has been no exception.   In Argentina, stores are full of hollow chocolate eggs full of other  candies or other forms of chocolate and that is how Argentinians celebrate Easter.  We were talking to an owner of a candy store in downtown San Fernando and he stated that often children wake up on Easter Morning and the eggs are often hanging from the ceiling.   We were talking to the two sister missionaries who live in the same apartment complex we do, one from Spain and one from Uruguay and were explaining all the Easter Holiday traditions we have in the United States i.e.  Colored Easter Eggs, Easter Baskets, etc.   I'm not sure they fully understand the reason we do such things and, admittedly, we struggle to explain the reason also but its something we look forward to as children and we carry on those traditions with ...

 This week was full of our second round of zone meetings which we love attending as we get to see all the missionaries in a few short days to be trained and hear from missionaries that will be leaving in a few weeks.   We have learned that missions involve 6 week cycles where new missionaries arrive, finishing missionaries leave, transfers occur, zone meetings are held, missionaries are interviewed, leadership meetings are held and then the cycle starts all over again.  Its a bit of a groundhog day effect but we love meeting new missionaries and are sad with missionaries leaving, in particular those we have gotten to know so well in the areas in which we serve.    Below is a picture of all the hermanas attending the zone conferences from the Capital Zones (Those zones that are part of the metro Buenos Aires area).  Including Hermana Richardson to the far right. Our Ward had a temple trip on Saturday in which a number of newly baptized members and famil...

 With over 200 missionaries in the Buenos Aires North mission we still have many to get to know better but we have gotten to know the missionaries near where we live in the Virreyes District and those in the Pilar Ward very well and have learned to love them.  We also get to know missionaries as I have been trying to get English Connect books into the hands of non-English speaking missionaries that have expressed an interest in learning English while they are on their missionaries.   English Connect is a great program where if they are able to pass all three levels and the final test they will then be able to sign up for college level classes through BYU Pathways to get a degree at cost levels that are affordable in their countries.   This gives so many missionaries returning to their home countries a hope of finding employment that can support families, its truly an inspired program.  I am teaching a level 1 course and its not easy for them but they w...

 We continue to get know people in our ward (Congregation) in Pilar, Argentina, while the language can be a barrier with it being difficult for me to understand the accent and rapidity of the language and Linda still working hard to learn the basics, we have been welcomed with open arms into the Ward.   An example of this was at the beginning of Relief Society a sister raised her hand and instructed the sisters that they needed to speak slowly and loudly so that Linda's Google Translate app could understand and keep up with the translation.   Just an example of people of members being aware of and watching out for us.  Below is a picture taken at that Relief Society meeting with Linda to the right I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting this week which had me a little nervous given my aforementioned ongoing struggle with fluency.   This nervous feeling was trebled when I learned Saturday night that the other Speaker was going to be Elder C...

 This week was our first experience saying goodbye to missionaries leaving the mission and welcoming new missionaries at the airport and participating in their first (and only) day of training before they are sent out to areas with their trainers to begin their service as full time missionaries.   We were able to attend the temple with the 4 missionaries that were leaving last week.    We haven't been here long enough to get to know these missionaries well so I'm sure as we continue to get to know the over 200 missionaries in this mission we will feel very sad to send them home.  I made the observation after these two days that it was hard to tell who was more nervous, those going home after their missions to begin the next phase of life or those that are arriving, often to a new culture, language and work. We really liked going to the airport to welcome new missionaries from both the Mexico City MTC and the Brazil MTC.  It was a late night but these n...