Litoral Conference - Monday, Dec. 28, 2009

Wow, what a day!! We left for the office shortly after 8:00 a.m. in order to get organized and maybe do a couple of things before our zone conference started at 9:00. Forget the "doing a couple of things" thought. There is always so much activity going on with elders coming and going out of the office, that I got nothing done. Elder Kroff, however, was able to send off a "plata de zona" (zone money to the zone leaders)

Zone conference is always good, and would be better if I could understand more. Today, I was really tired, and at the end I was anxious for it to be over so I could go back to the office and get started on things that I had to get done today. I was getting hungry too.

Elder Davis on the left and Elders Martinez, Stoker and Jones approve of the lunch prepared by Sister Vecchiarelli of the San Fernando ward. She prepares the meal for us each time. It was milanesa, rice, green salad, bread, fruit, and flan with dulce de leche over it. One serving was ample for us, but the elders go back for seconds.

Elder Healey and Elder Pugmire joined us for food and conversation. Elder Pugmire is one of the AP's. We had to laugh at the glasses we were using. A fork and knife were rolled up in a napkin and stuck inside a glass with the name Quilme on it, which is the name of a beer. We have no idea where they came from. We have never seen them in the church before, and can't imagine Sister Vecchiarelli bringing that many, or even bringing them at all. But maybe they are from the days before they became members.

After lunch, Rich and I went back to the office to work while the elders met in groups and did whatever was on the agenda for them. We weren't needed for any of it.

I immediately started filling the orders for another conference, and put last minute envelopes and some mail that had just arrived today in the boxes that were being shipped to the south tomorrow. Those were the two things that had to be done today. The reason being that tomorrow we won't be at the office. We are having a play day with the Argyles and are going to an Estancia, if the weather cooperates. The forecast is a little iffy, however.

After lunch at every conference, the President conducts interviews with the missionaries. It takes all afternoon. When he was finished with the youngsters, he came to the office and said he wanted to visit with us. It was 5:00 by then, and we hadn't left for home because two people were coming at 5:30 from the Area Offices to talk to us about Baptism Registers. We only had about a 15 minute chat before the visitors arrived.

Axel Cecchi, who is President Argyle's secretary to the mission (on the left) and Osmar Avila are the two who are in charge of the Church Data Entry (CDE) system for our area. Axel speaks pretty good English and Osmar a little less. They are going around providing training to new presidents and new secretaries who enter the baptisms on the computer. After ten months doing the baptism entry they are finally getting to me. I was glad they were coming because I had some questions, and some missionaries have called with questions that need clarification. I will now type up my notes and prepare some written instructions of what I learned to hand out at the next Zone Leaders Council.

We didn't get started with our meeting right at 5:30 because President Argyle had his secretary in his office talking to him for about a half hour. He probably thought Osmar would start without him, but he didn't. We waited for him to be present.

We left for home at 8:00. It has been a 12 hour day for us at the office.