Two Days Worth- Fri & Sat, Dec. 11 -12, 2009

Friday - Dec. 11

It was a beautiful morning walking to the office. The fresh coolish air feels wonderful to us, and sometimes we have to laugh because we'll see people with coats on. If there is any sort of a breeze, people are bundled up. Their tolerance for cold isn't like ours, I guess. They would probably perish in winters like we are used to.

I am glad I am caught up and ready for transfers next week because these last few days we have had to deal with an abundance of Christmas mail. No sooner do we send our runner, Gabriel Valentini, off to the Capital to pick up packages from customs, and another stack of claims are delivered to us by the correo. These next two weeks before Christmas will have him going at least twice a week to retrieve what is there.

President Argyle talked to me a couple days ago about keeping track of who doesn't receive a package from home. He said that mostly it is the Latinos that don't receive anything for Christmas. He talked about having Elder Kroff and I put together some sort of a small package for the missionaries that don't receive anything. He suggested a pair of socks and some other items of our choosing. So I started marking off those that I have packages for now. I tried to remember from the huge load we shipped out the last of November who received something. I could remember quite a few, but Rich and I decided to call the missionaries that have Latins as companions and see if they have received a package. Very few have at this point.

With two weeks before Christmas, I had 50 Latins that hadn't received anything from home, and about 8 Americans. Wow! That will be quite a project if the numbers don't come down. Our office elders have not received a package yet, but we are going to give them a gift anyway. So, they will be taken care of.

We were so glad that we decided to go to the International Arts Fair yesterday, because we weren't in the mood to return today, and besides the President came to get his car. However, we would have taken the train on day two if we had decided to go.

Before the car left us, we talked about going to WalMart to price some things and get an idea of other items that could make up a Christmas package for elders. Not having our own transportation didn't discourage us, however. We decided to take a remise out there and we would do our own grocery shopping too.

It was a great night to shop at WalMart. The crowd was light and it was very pleasant. We took our time and browsed around and bought way more groceries than we set out to do. Each time I see our loaded cart, I wonder where in the world am I going to put them when I get home. But, every time I end up putting them out of site. I even bought a small frozen turkey and it fit in my freezer. That surprised us.

We had to call a remise to take us home and we got home at 10:00 again. After putting all the groceries away, then I was too tired to sit up and write our journal entry. I fall asleep at the computer. Rich can't understand why I even attempt it. Sometimes I do.

Saturday, Dec. 12

Today was a sunny day with no rain in the forecast, so we knew what we had to do. We needed to go to Tigre to Puerto de Frutos to do some Christmas shopping. We decided we wanted to get Elders Paz and Coria a boleto for Christmas. Rich found a really good one there a while back and when Elder Nelson was with us in the office, he became addicted to learning how to master the technique of doing it. So when he left, Rich gave it to him as a going away present. Rich always thought the boleto was a Mexican toy, but has found out that it is a toy all over South America. Elder Coria is pretty good at landing the ball on the stick, so we thought this would be a fun gift for both of them.

In our third attempt at going to Tigre to find all the stores at the market place open at once, we ran across this Carrousel. It looked fun and inviting for the children.

We wandered around looking here and there at things, and then walked four blocks to catch the bus back home, eating an ice cream cone all the way.

We got back at 1:00 and had until 3:00 before we had to leave for a baptism at the San Fernando ward. Elders Pugmire and Urra invited us and said they wanted us to sing with them the Primary song, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." Two gals from the ward were going to sing with us and Elder Urra would play the piano. One of the versus we would sing in English.

Elder Kroff, at the last minute, was asked to bear his testimony during the time when the new convert is dressing after being baptized. Then, on second thought, "Could you just take the whole time?" No problem, he is always prepared and has given his little talk on authority a few times. I told him he should just always plan on taking some time whether the elders give him prior notice or not. He is always called upon and responds with gratefulness that they asked. What a guy!

We returned to the church at 7:00 for the adult session of Stake Conference. Our Branch President's wife, Hermana Sandra Torre sat with us. She is so cute and bubbly. She leads the music in sacrament meeting as I play the hymns. We work good together.

The session was good with three members giving talks, and then the three in the Stake Presidency addressed us. A choir also sang a number.