We are Legal - Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

In order to catch up on our journal entries, I will make some brief comments on yesterday, Monday, November 9th.

I couldn't believe all the health calls I took throughout the morning. Some elders try to weather the storm and refrain from calling me by looking in their carpeta first for a remedy. (health section in their binder) Then they call me if the condition lasts. But some call immediately with minor aches and pains. I use common sense on some matters, and others I confer with the Doctor. But it took most of my morning to field these calls.

It was a pretty standard day at the office and nothing too exciting happened. I got all of the supplies for the South boxed up and ready to go. It always surprises me that the total number of boxes going is ten. I never have five or seven boxes, or twelve or fifteen boxes, it is always ten. I thought it changed this time, as I filled nine boxes. Then today a package came for one of the missionaries and it took up another box. So that made ten again. Even if a box comes for a missionary down there, I have to put it inside another box in order to ship it with our private carrier.

There is a sister missionary serving down South that is fairly new. She has received eleven packages in six weeks. Eleven!! Most were those flat rate $12.95 envelopes that can be filled to the heart's desire, but I think some parents need to get a grip. The missionaries don't need something from home every week. I think it is distracting and keeps them from focusing on the work. One elder, whose mother was constantly sending things, told her thanks, but don't over due it. He was just fine. His mail has cut way down. This sister's mother even sent her a Christmas tree -- as if they don't sell trees down here. Okay, that's my 2 cents worth.

A father of one of our elders called with news that the elder's grandfather had passed away that morning and wanted President Argyle to let him know. I took down the information and emailed the President. The grandfather had been ill. This elder is a twin, and his brother is serving in another mission here in Argentina. They get released from their missions a day apart in December, but arrangements have been made to have them fly home together. That will be special for them.

Tuesday - Nov. 10

The temperature will be in the 70's today, so Elder Kroff decided to wear a short sleeve white shirt for the first time. He really is a long sleeve type person because he doesn't want his baby white skin exposed to the harmful rays of the sun. But, he knows with this humidity coming, that he will perish from heat exhaustion. Today, he wished for the long sleeves in the morning, but by late afternoon, he was comfortable with short.

Our plans for today involved going down to the Immigrations Building at the Capital to get the paperwork that makes us legal residents. It was ready in August, but we never found time to do it, and it is easy to put things off. Today was the day to hop on the train and go.

Lots of money has been spent on remises and combis to take groups of missionaries down to the Immigrations Bldg. until it was discovered one day that it is only about two or three blocks from the train station. So now, Elder Coria takes the missionaries by train and it is so much better.

It didn't take us long to get there either. It was pretty slick. However, on the paperwork it says that our residency expires one year from June 30. Really?? Rich explained that we would be here until September 2010, and they said that we would have to do it all over again in June, or we could leave the country -- like go to Paraguay or Uruguay and come back to Argentina as tourists for three months. That's cool! We will just have to tell President Argyle that we need to take one of the boat rides to Uruguay that leave from Tigre all the time. Then upon coming back into the country, Uruguay must stamp our passports or something. It's worth a try! We'll have to have Elder Coria check on that expiration date with Sabrina who prepares all the paperwork.

We really didn't have any where to go while down in the Capital, so we just got back on the train and headed home. We did decide to get off in San Isidro and go to this great store that has anything and everything for kitchens and bathrooms. It is just stacked with any kind of utensil, or dish, or anything that a kitchen would need. Rich is dying to have some fresh squeezed orange juice and is always looking for an orange juice squeezer. He really wants one with a handle that compresses the orange and the juiced comes out the bottom right into a glass. I thought the old fashioned kind that uses wrist action would do, but I conceded. Too bad it isn't closer to Christmas. The orange juice sold in stores is more like an orange drink than orange juice. We tried it when we got home, but he is so excited for morning to come so he can do it again. It is easy to entertain him.

Who's this guy?? He is the repairman sent by management to repair our wall that was growing mold due to a leakage problem from the roof. Some water heater pipes on the roof were not sealed off properly and we were getting cooking odors and sometimes cigarette smoke in our apartment. Plus, when it rains hard, water comes down the chimney. This guy fixed the problem on the roof, and is now patching and will paint the wall. There is water leaking in from our bedroom window also, and that wall is growing mold. He will re-caulk the window another time and clean up the wall at the head of our bed. Even though a couple of other apartments have complained about this same problem, it seems ours is the worst. We hope what he has done will solve the problem.