Oct 21, 22 - Up to Date

Wednesday - October 21

When we went to bed last night, we knew that the forecast for today was rain. The weather is flip flopping again. So, we grabbed our umbrellas and jackets and walked in a misty rain this morning. It rained most of the day, and quite hard at times. It mucks up the entry way to the office with leaves and dirt that cling to the shoes. I try to tackle it with the broom, but it should be mopped on days like this. We have no cleaning equipment like that, so I wipe up the bad spots with a dampened paper towel.

I am determined to get the packets done this week for those leaving on the next exchange. But, a stack of baptisms were staring me in the face, so I put everything else aside and went to work entering them. There were 19 of them. It has been a struggle getting our baptism numbers up again since reaching the doubling goal, but each week they improve.

My medical calls have declined over the past couple of weeks. I have been getting three or four a week lately, but nothing serious. For some of the headache, or diarrhea complaints I have a remedy on the tip of my tongue. However, today an elder called who thinks he has a hernia. Talking with the doctor, he said it sounds possible. He is out of the area visiting another mission in Argentina and will see the elder on Tuesday of next week.

Elder Kroff sent an adjustment to the missionaries, but it will take a couple of days getting through the system in order for them to start using it. More training is scheduled to instruct the missionaries about budget keeping and frugality.

On the way to the office this morning, we couldn't resist asking this worker if we could take his picture. This is so typical of how repairs are done here in Argentina. Only two tools are needed -- a hammer and chisel. Everything is buried in cement, and when a pipe or wire is to be changed or exposed, the wall is hammered away, the repair done, and then patched up again with cement. They were putting electrical outlets in the wall. There are no jack hammers in this country that we have seen -- sludge hammers are used to break up sidewalks.

Thursday, October 22

For some reason, Rich's leg starts acting up during the night when he goes to bed. It has been aching the past couple of nights. It doesn't keep him awake, but when he turns over or wakes up a little, he is aware that it is hurting. He never knows if that is because he over did it during the day, or the change in weather and air pressure.

Argentina was suppose to go on day light savings time last weekend, but it was suspended for the time being. The restaurant owners got together and complained that their businesses would suffer because people don't start eating until it gets dark. Staying light for so long would cause them to lose business. We are not sure if this is going to last or not.

Getting into the elevator today we read the sign posted on the wall. There is going to be a meeting next Monday night at 10:00 p.m. -- yes, 10:00 p.m. to come up with a solution to make our building safe from robberies. Too bad they didn't come up with that idea seven months ago. Rich will for sure go to the meeting, but I am still deciding. It might be interesting to see who lives in our building. I'm sure we haven't met everyone.

President Argyle came by and spent a couple of hours at the office. Then he drove one of his assistants to a zone some distance away in order for him to work with the elders there. Elder Nelson was with us this morning and then left to be with the assistant's companion for five days.

The four of us left in the office worked silently for most of the afternoon. We couldn't believe how quiet it was. So was Elder Nelson the noisy one among us? I don't think so.

I finished my packets, and went to the chapel to pick out and practice my hymns for Sunday. It is our branch conference so I wanted to find songs that would be appropriate and easy enough for me to play without too many mistakes. I even picked out an intermediate hymn in case President Torre wants one. I will go back and practice again tomorrow.

Dinner was spaghetti and as I worked on this entry, we watched the 1948 Humphrey Bogart movie which was up for an academy award. It was Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Pretty good, it held our interest. Movies have surely come a long way since then.

We wanted to make sure we got a picture of Elder Nelson and us before he left the office for good, so we decided we better do it. He goes home in March, but as it has been with the others that are transferred out of the office, we don't get a chance to see them much once they leave.

Hurrah!! I am finally caught up with our blog entries.