Veinte Cinco de Mayo (25th of May)

We had a quiet Sunday afternoon yesterday with nothing on our agenda and no where to go, so we just stayed home and talked to our girls and grandsons on Skype.  Then, as I was working on our journal entry, our buzzer rang.  Rich answered it and said it was President Argyle. What??   He never comes to our place. Must be something important he needs to speak to Rich about. We were not in our Sunday clothes anymore. We looked pretty casual and dressed down. 

Rich went to let him in, and guess what????

The Argyles came to visit . . . the whole family!!!   We were surprised . . . . in fact, shocked, but oh so pleased to have them in our humble home.  They said they were in the area visiting some inactive people and leaving cookies with them.  One family wasn't home, and they were so close to us that they decided to come see us and give us the cookies.  Their children were excited to come because they had only seen our apartment empty before we came, and they wanted to see what it looked like now.  

We had a nice visit, and I had just taken some banana bread out of the oven, so we all had a piece.  I was glad my oven didn't burn it too bad this time.  I only had to slice a small portion off the bottom of it.  

The Argyle kids are amazing.  They are so cute and well behaved.  We may not have been so surprised if Sister Argyle came with the children to deliver cookies, but to have the President here too was a treat.  He is so busy and pulled in so many directions, that to have him here visiting in a relaxed atmosphere was wonderful.  We really enjoyed their visit.  Hope they do it again.  

 
Today is a national holiday in Argentina.  We have all heard of the Mexican's Cinco de Mayo, right?  Well, in Argentina, today is Veinte Cinco de Mayo (the 25th of May), which is a national Patriot's Day of some sort. July 9th is their Independence Day, but this holiday is bigger than that.  

The whole ward came to the church to celebrate the holiday.  We, in the office, came over and joined them for the dinner.  They eat a soup called Locro which is the national food of Argentina.  They started preparing it on Saturday here in the kitchen of the church.  It consists of corn, white northern beans, a sausage called Chorrizo, pigs feet, and sometimes the stomach of a cow.  Sounds gross, but it was really good.  I think the pigs feet and cow stomach are boiled for flavor because there wasn't any evidence of it in the soup. . . well, not too much.  There were a couple of things I didn't recognize, so I pushed them to the side.  The soup originated out in the country and was made with the stomach of a cow for the added grease because it would keep them warm in the winter.  However, this soup didn't appear to be very greasy.  It was creamy and very flavorful.  We liked it.  Hope our arteries survive.

The family at our table also brought a chicken pie and shared a piece with us.  It was good, too, and we liked it.   

The Elders were excited to try the national food also. Elder Valente is from Argentina, so the food was traditional and tasty to him, for sure.   Carlos, the guy in the hat, was one of the chief cooks.

This is our bishop and his wife.  She told one of the Elders that we, the Americans, probably wouldn't like the food, so we better bring something we could eat. But all of us liked what we ate.  She brought some homemade Empanadas and gave us one.  They were good too.

 
Jorge and Laura Leon are a cute couple.  He is a counselor in the bishopric, and Laura teaches the Gospel Principles class that we attend in Sunday School. She served a mission about 12 years ago and is an excellent teacher. She makes everyone in class feel welcomed, and she speaks slower than most Argentines, so I am able to understand some of what she is talking about in class.  

The couple sitting across from each other is Mariano and Karla Palermo.  She lived in Texas for six years with her family, then they moved back to Argentina.  She speaks wonderful English. They have been married for two months.

The teenagers like to get in on the action.  The Argentines love to have their picture taken.

After the dinner, there was a program.  We could hear the music from our office, so we came over to see what was going on.  There was a young married couple on stage doing a dance called The Salsa.  They were great, and it was evident they had danced the dance many times before.

The party lasted most of the day and we were glad we could enjoy a part of it. 

There were many plazas, and churches, and places around the city that were celebrating the day.  Schools were out, and all businesses were closed.  Now, back to normal tomorrow.