Visa Day

When we came to Argentina, we didn't have our visa's yet, so we came on a tourist status. On our flight plan, there was a return ticket home for a month later. We thought that was strange, and if it were correct, it would be the shortest mission ever served. We found out later that after we arrived, the travel office would cancelled that flight. It was just a formality to get us into the country.

So a couple of weeks ago, we received a call to go to the Area Offices (we call it Bonpland because it is located on that street) It is the same place we went to watch conference with the other senior couples. We met another couple there from the West Mission who also had to get their Civil/Police Registry place that would check us out to see if we had a criminal record. Oh my goodness!! The line outside was wrapping around and around, and we didn't know what to think.

Here we are at the end of the line. Our new friends are Elder and Sister Smith. They are from the Provo/Orem area and have been here two weeks less than us. He served a mission in Argentina, actually right here in Buenos Aires before it was split into three missions. So when people ask him where he served as a youth, he tells them he served in the North, South, and West missions. He is excited to be back here. He and his wife work with the Latin missionaries to help them learn the English language. They also are over the apartments in their mission. Our driver who took care of us is in front of Elder Smith.

The driver got us through the crowd outside and took us to a place inside and we were told to wait. He, then, got back in line and worked his way to a desk where an appointment was made for us to come back. It would be about 3 hours later. There were so many people there, that it would have been too long to wait. So he took us back to Bonpland and the four of us walked to a little panaderia (bakery),where we bought a sandwich and a sweet roll for lunch. We visited around with the other senior couples at the offices until it was time to get back in the car and go the Civil Registry again.

Once there, we only waited a short time until we were taken into a room with a man at a computer, and he asked us questions. We had to give the first name of our father, and the first and maiden name of our mother. Then we were finger printed with a digital finger print machine.

Our driver, then, drove us both to our homes . . . us to the North mission and the Smith's to the West mission. It took about 45 minutes to get us home, and then he had to deliver them to their mission. So he had quite a bit of driving to do. We were wishing he would have taken the Smith's home first, because we wanted to see where the West mission was located.

The next day we traveled again to Bonpland and met the Smith's for the second round of our legal work. Sabrina and the driver took us to the Imigration Building. This was really an experience. It kind of reminded us of going to the Social Security building in Salt Lake and taking a number and having a seat -- but worse. It also reminded me of Ellis Island by New York, where the immigrants came to a large hall and had to be processed through. People here were wearing masks because of the Swine Flu scare. Sabrina went with us this time and she had us sit down and she and the driver waited in a couple lines. When it was our turn, we met a roadblock. The paperwork said we were "missionaries" not "ministers", and a large fee would be waived if we were ministers. Sabrina stood her ground and said that it had never been a problem before, and they had not charged a fee for "missionaries". Well, the worker check it out with her boss, and it just happened that the imigration place had new bosses that day and they would not waive the fee. Grrrrrrrrrr! So we couldn't complete our visas that day. Sabrina has to change the paperwork to say minister, or pay the fee. We are actually ministers, and have the card to prove it, but since the paperwork didn't say so, no deal!!

Sabrina now tells us that it will be sometime in June before we can get another appointment to meet with imigration. AND. . . . . . all the missionaries coming into Argentina from now on will not have visas and it will be up to the individual missions to get their missionaries their visa work done and finalized. It is up to the mission secretary. Eeeeek! That's me. Well, how can I go up there alone and take care of all of that? I am just sick about it. If it is up to me, Rich will have to go with me and do all the talking. It is going to be a headache for sure. The Area Office will most likely do the paperwork, but we have to do the leg work. Oh, we are so looking forward to this added responsibility. It takes a whole day to drive there, wait, and wait, and then drive back.

Today at work, I have been entering baptisms. We had 22 baptisms last week. This mission usually averages between 20 and 25 per week. I learned how call the Assistants and get the data from the previous weeks work and enter it into the computer, but the language was a problem for me and it took much, much longer than it should. So, Elder Clegg has taken that duty back (thankgoodness), but I still enter the baptisms into the system and transmit them to Salt Lake at the end of the week. A faxed copy comes to our office and I enter the data from that. It requires phone calls to the Elders and Sisters if I can't read the form. Some of them know why I am calling when they hear my voice, and start apologizing right off the bat. But they are so nice to me and I actually enjoy talking to them. I always ask for the North American Elder of the pair. It is refreshing to carry on a conversation in English.

We are getting a computer this weekend, so my entries won't be so few and far between. We are looking forward to it.