Getting Ready - Monday, Jan. 25, 2010

We thought December and January were to be the two hottest summer months. December wasn't as bad as we anticipated, but January has made up for it. We are wondering what February will bring.

Tomorrow is day one of transfers and eight elders and sisters will arrive. Five are coming from the Provo MTC and will be here at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Two sisters and one elder are at the Buenos Aires MTC and will be picked up tomorrow by the President, and one other sister who is from San Salvador went to the Dominican Republic MTC and will arrive at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday. I feel so sorry for President and Sister Argyle having to get up in the middle of the night and leave at around 3:30 in order to meet Sister Peña when her plane comes in. The president of the MTC in the Dominican Republic called our office today to make sure we knew she was coming and to check to see if someone was going to be there to meet her. We were already on top of it.

She will get one on one training by the Argyles when they get her to the mission home at around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. and then she and her new companion (who will be there waiting for her) will take off to their new area of labor. Her companion is Sister Gonzales who is being transferred back up here to Buenos Aires from the South. Then, the Argyles have to prepare to receive the eleven elders who are going home on Wednesday. They go to the mission home at 11:00 a.m. that day. I don't see how they do all they do. It just boggles my mind.

Today I put all the supplies I ordered in their proper place in my supply room. I emailed the Distribution Center about my Book of Mormon order not being among the shipment, but I never heard a word. I will try again tomorrow to contact them. We will be hurting if something got fouled up and we don't receive that order.

Then, Dr. Petersen was impossible to find today. I had four elders with health issues, and I could not reach him by phone. I left messages, even emailed him my concerns, but no such luck! Hopefully tomorrow I will be successful. I don't know if he had a phone problem or what. It is strange that he never answered his phone all day. It's a mystery.

Rich needed to go to the bank, so he left to do that. He was back sooner than I expected, but he said he took the bus both ways because it was so hot. He still had beads of sweat rolling down his face even though he didn't do major walking.

We found out today that Elder Paz will be leaving the office. He seemed very disappointed. He has been in the office for four transfers, and that is about the length of time the President leaves them here. But, it seems like he just got into the swing of things regarding the apartments and contracts etc. We will be getting Elder Hales to replace him. He will come tomorrow, and he and Elders Paz and Coria will be a trio for a while until Elder Paz has trained him. We are a little concerned if he is ready to tackle the difficult landlords and all the problems that go with the job. He just came on his mission in August and we are wondering if he knows the language well enough to communicate comfortably over the telephone with these native speakers. We'll see! We don't know him at all and he is probably a pretty sharp elder that can handle the job. It will be fun to get to know him.

Elders Paz and Coria have worked it out with Silvio to cook another asado up on our roof area where the barbeque is. Then we eat inside in a party room that has tables and chairs. They have set it up for this Saturday afternoon. I guess now it can be sort of a going away party for Elder Paz and a welcome party for Elder Hales. Silvio will be working close with Elder Hales on the apartments, as Silvio is the one who finds the apartments and fixes them up. And -- he cooks up a mean asado (BBQ)

When we want to use the facilities up there, we have to just write our name on a sheet of paper to reserve it. Rich did that this morning and put that we needed it from 11:00 to 3:00. Last time we had an asado, we ate around 1:00 in the afternoon. So we assumed we would do it again at that time. Anyway, while we were eating dinner tonight, a knock came at our door. Golly, no one has ever knocked on our door -- ever. If someone comes to see us, we have to go down and let them in, so there is never an occasion for a knock. Well, it was a young gal who evidently lives here -- we had never seen her before. She had been up to reserve the party area for Saturday also and noticed our note. She wanted to know if that meant 11:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. because she wanted to reserve it for the evening too. One look at us could have told her that it would not be from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. No way!! But we assured her we were using it in the afternoon and would be finished in just a couple hours. She was happy and went on her way. So now we know what we have to look forward to on Saturday night right above us. We got a chuckle out of it.

Sister Argyle came by the office this morning to drop off the food for the trainers meeting. They meet and are trained by the assistants and then they go by train over to the mission home to pick up their new companions. The President doesn't know which new missionary will be assigned to a trainer until he interviews each of them after they arrive. He, through inspiration, then matches them up and after the trainers come in singing Called to Serve in Spanish, he announces who will be working together. The new and the old give a big abrazo, then get their picture taken together and spend some time getting to know one another. Elder Kroff is usually there for that and says it is an exciting time and fun to watch.

Over in the church the other day, the Primary Presidency of the San Fernando ward was there cleaning out their closet in the hallway. Sister Bolentini, Silvio's wife, (on the right) is the president. She is the one who cooks two meals a week for our office elders. She is so good to them. She often includes something for Rich and me. She is a sweetheart. On Saturday, she and their daughter come with Silvio for the asado. She is a nice person and a wonderful cook. The elders are lucky!!

We had 41 baptisms last week, so I have my work cut out for me this week trying to get them entered timely. I do want people to be baptized, but at the end of the month and especially this week when I have so much to do relating to transfers, I would have preferred a smaller amount. My slow time last week has come to an end.