Always Work- Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009

In looking for something to wear today, I couldn't get past all the sweaters and hot looking clothes in my closet, so I proceeded to take some off the hangers and fold them for storage in the cupboard above our closet. They will most likely stay there until next May or June. Even though the wintery days did get freezing cold, there were not that many of them. There are more warm and hot days here in Argentina than cold days. I don't have as many light weight summer clothes as I do winter clothes, so I am a bit nervous that I will tire of them before the cool weather comes back. I guess I could go shopping, but that's a big deal when I don't know where to go for missionary type clothes. Most apparel here is a bit skimpy.

I decided today I would tie up a lot of loose ends with things that I have been setting aside. We only had ten baptisms last week to record this week and I have them in the computer. That is a discouraging number for this mission. Last week I entered about twenty five. We can't figure out why the drastic drop. Hopefully, the missionaries will get pumped up after Elder Bednar's talk next week and things will pick up. We are sure President Argyle is trying to find words of encouragement and inspiration to pass on at zone conference time. He'll come up with something, he always does.

I placed my Book of Mormon order today. It has to be done by the 18th of each month or the form becomes void. I make sure I am under the deadline. Then it takes about two weeks for them to arrive. The quota we could order this month was 1106. That is about twenty seven cajas (boxes) which have forty books in each box. The quota changes a little each month and I'm not sure why. But, out of that total, I have to ship some boxes down South.

I spent a couple hours this afternoon trying to figure out what mail can be sent to other countries by bolsa (the pouch system). Some welcome letters, some first time letters (letters written on the day of arrival) from missionaries to their parents, and some letters and flight plans going to families of departing missionaries were on my agenda. These all had to do with latin missionaries. Some had to have a complete address and some could be sent with just the ward and stake listed. I wrote to the head person over the pouch mail with detailed specific problems we were having and he responded to each question and example with clarity. I think I understand it now. It has been a source of frustration for several weeks since the rules changed and mail would come back rejected. That cleared a nice stack of papers from my desk.

Elder Kroff walked to a Pago Rapido to pay a huge stack of bills. They were mainly utility bills on apartments that have been going to our old office mailbox. We have to pick them up when we are in the area, but the elders don't get over there very often and some become past due. Elder Paz asked Elder Kroff what we were going to do about it, and Elder Kroff told him that he needed to call the companies and start changing the address. This should have been done as soon as we moved out of that office. Elder Paz started immediately to call some of the vendors.

Elder Coria has had a very time consuming assignment these last couple of weeks trying to arrange transportation to get all our missionaries to the Elder Bednar conference next Thursday. We have some elders that are two or more hours away. The President doesn't want anyone walking in late because of problems that could occur with getting lost or delays with public transportation, so he is having all but about two zones transported to the stake center. A couple of zones are close to where the conference is being held so they are getting there on their own, but the rest will be picked up by buses and brought to the stake center. The office staff and one of the assistants and his companion will go in the President's van. That frees up six seats in the bus for other missionaries. The conference is a big deal, and arranging the rides is a big deal.

These office elders that work with transportation whether it is intercontinental flights, or lining up remises for transfer week, or rides to a conference like this have my respect. Before Elder Coria came, Elders Clegg and Nelson had the job and they, too, carried out this responsibility with perfection. They have to find out whom to call and then work out all the details involved and make it work with what the President wants. It is a good thing they can speak Castellano like they do in order to communicate effectively. Of course, Elder Coria, is a native.

This is the door to our office which is inside a fenced and gated area. There is an alarm system right inside the door which we set upon leaving and turn off when entering. The elders go and come sometimes during the evening and on weekends, and Rich gets calls from the alarm people wondering what is going on and if the alarm should be off. Sometimes we have to go back to the office to get something and it frustrates them to have it on and off at unscheduled times. They used to call ALL the time, but now we think they are used to our hap hazard routine. They think if the alarm is set at 5:00, it shouldn't be turned off until 9:00 in the morning.

At transfer time last week, we took this picture of a group of our cute sisters. Left to right, Hermanas Freitas, Mora, Winters, Shaffer, Rios, Gosnell, and Collinwood are happy to be a part of this sweet work. Right now we have 16 hermanas in our mission.

When our repairmen left last night, arrangements were made for him to come earlier today to finish up his work. Rich said he could be home by 4:00 in order to give him more daylight to complete his work. He thought that was great and said he would be by around that time. Well, as I write this journal entry, we are still waiting. It is now 8:30 and dark outside. I think it's pretty safe to say he won't make it tonight.