Sunday, October 18 - Mother's Day

I was anxious to get to church today to practice my hymns because I picked them out late in the week and didn't have a lot of time to spend at the piano. When we walked by the Branch President's office, I stepped in to shake his hand and he began telling me about the sacrament service today. It is Mother's Day in Argentina today and he had lined up the young women to take part in the program by each reading a part of a poem or short story about mothers. Then he wanted an intermediate hymn, "O mi Padre." I was relieved, because that was one of the hymns I had practiced a few times while deciding what I would play today. Okay, I could do that.

Then. . . . he said that President Argyle was going to be with us today to speak. Good Grief! He didn't say a word about it yesterday while we were with him. It would be a treat to have him in our meeting and to hear from him, but it made me nervous to play hymns with which I was not totally comfortable. And to make me more flustered, his whole family came and Austin and Anika both play the piano. Oh well, I did my best and they just had to live through a few bad notes.

After the meeting, the Young Women passed out gifts to every mother. They decorated small wooden boxes and had a few pieces of chocolate candies in them that were made from molds. They were darling and the girls were so proud to have made them for the mothers. Then, Sister Carbajal, the R.S. President, stayed up until 4:00 this morning making every sister a homemade candle holder with a candle inside. Mine resembled something that could be used for Christmas with colors of red, green, and white, so now I have my first decoration.

Elder Kroff didn't have to teach his Sunday School class because the Br. Pres. caught us in the hallway and said that since there were no investigators present today, we could just go to the Gospel Doctrine class. Gosh, all of us who attend the Gospel Principles class like being there and we have a good discussion -- well, they have a good discussion, not me. But I like trying to figure out what is being said.

Sister Carbajal had invited us to dinner today. She was happy to have us come on Mother's Day. Her husband passed away about six weeks ago, but she is doing well and is very upbeat. This is the second time she has had us to dinner. We are waiting for the bus that will drop us off right in front of her house. Sister Gladys (can't remember her last name) is a young gal who is the Primary President. She lives close to Sister Carbajal and they are good friends. She joined us for dinner.

When we arrived at her house, her son, Daniel, was cooking the food. We had Milenesa, Empanadas, potato salad, mixed fruit in a sauce with ice cream on top, and cake. We were stuffed.

From left to right: son Maxi, Gladys, Daniel, Sister Carbajal, Kroffs, and on the ground is Leonardo, a friend of the boys. The conversation was very lively and loud during dinner. A neighbor lady came in for dessert and other children poked their heads in to leave a Mother's Day remembrance for Sis. Carbajal.

Gladys, Mary, Julie, and Rich pose with the dog. Didn't catch his name. After we left, we caught a bus that took us to a street where we had to change buses in order to get home. It was slick. We are getting good on the colectivos.

While spending a quiet Sunday evening at home, and during our visit with Susanne and Thale on Skype, our office elders came by to give me a Mother's Day present. They first sang "Love at Home" with Elder Nelson on the harmonica. The Latin elders sang the song in English and did pretty well. Then they gave me some flowers and a picture of the three of them in front of the temple. It was a picture we took Friday. In the corner of the picture, they used the computer to print "Happy Argentine Mother's Day from Elders Paz, Nelson, and Coria." It was so cute of them and so thoughtful. In his broken English, Elder Coria said, "You are like a mother to us." So tender! I really could be their grandmother. Rules or no rules, they each got a hug!

We were mad at ourselves because we didn't think to take a picture of them and me with my gifts. So tomorrow I'll round them up for a photo.

It has been a good day!