A New Elder - Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009

I woke up feeling fine this morning, but not wanting to fix a lunch to take to work today. I get tired of eating the same old sandwiches, chips, and green apples with Dulce de Leche. We don't take leftovers because we don't want to carry a bunch of containers and bulky things since we have to walk every day. So we eat simple things to take away the hunger, not necessarily for the enjoyment of what is before us. Today, we decided to order empanadas to be delivered and we will feed the elders too. They don't have anyone providing lunch for them on Tuesdays.

We came to the office today anticipating the arrival of a new elder. He is Elder Alvarez from Paraguay and he will be with us for four to six months waiting to go to his mission field in Venezuela. For some reason, there is always a visa problem with elders going to Venezuela. We don't know what the hold up is, but he can't get into the country for a while. We get a lot of temporaries in this mission held up from going a variety of places.

He will be in a threesome for the time being with Elder Davis on the left and Elder Curtis, one of the assistants, on the right. They picked him up at the MTC and brought him to the mission office for training. He looks a bit overwhelmed in this picture, I'd say. The President is still in the South, so he wasn't here, but Sister Argyle came to do her part and Elders Kroff and Paz instructed him on finances, and apartment living. Then, the elders whisked him off with them to eat lunch at the home of a member. I am sure he was introduced to an evening full of teaching with these two missionaries. They baptized a family of five last Sunday.

I finished my carpetas, my new missionary binders. Hurrah! Now I have welcome letters to print off and have the President sign to put in each one. Then I can start on my packets for the ten missionaries that will return home in December at transfer time. Never a dull moment!!

Right after 4:00, we left the office, and since the sun was shining and there was only a 10% chance of rain, we decided to go to Puerto de Frutos in Tigre to do some Christmas shopping. We got on the colectivo and knew the corner where we needed to get off. Then we had to walk about four or five blocks to this large shopping area that is kind of like a flea market, but has more permanent type structures or individual stores. However, it was closed. Some places were opened up, but they were few and far between.

We decided to walk around anyway and asked a security guard what the hours were. He said that it is open from Wednesday through Sunday from morning till evening. Oh, so we came a day too early. But tomorrow there is suppose to be rain. So we will return on Friday evening and on Saturday too if need be. So far, the forecast is to be sunny and warm on the weekend. But we have seen that change in the blink of an eye.

There is a canal coming into one part of the area, and it looked like ferries and tour boats left from here also. We are anxious to go back this weekend.

On the way back to catch the bus home, we couldn't resist taking a picture of this colorful flowering tree that has formed an arch over this door. There are so many beautiful flowering bushes and trees down here in the springtime. We wish the blooms wouldn't fall off, but they don't last forever.