Great P-day - Saturday, May 8, 2010

We love our P-day because we can sleep in, but we were still up by 7:45. Sometimes it is hard to get going on Saturdays, just because we don't have to. The day was to be sunny and clear and we can't pass up doing or seeing something because we don't know how many more like this we will have.

Rich started trouble shooting some emails from parents about Mother's Day calls. A few hadn't heard from their missionary about where to call tomorrow, and some tried the number ahead of time to see if it was a good number and emailed with concerns. Most of these were calls to chapels and it was okay that no one would answer, but if they got a ringing sound then they knew it went through. Others had different concerns. By the time he was through with those problems, it was getting pretty close to noon, so we figured we better head out for our exploring, and clean the apartment later.

Our plans were to stay a little closer to San Fernando because of the baptism we had to go to at 6:30 in Tigre. So, we decided to explore an area in San Isidro that Elder Pugmire told us about before he left. They were to have really good leather items, and it was in a little mall area where other speciality stores were located. We took the train to San Isidro and enjoyed our two block walk to this designated area. We enjoyed window shopping and did go into a couple jewelry stores that sold Citizen watches to see if they were comparable to the one in Canada that Rich bought, and loved, and was taken in the robbery. None were the steal of a deal that he got in Canada.

We found the little shopping mall area with ease and also found the store that was recommended. We made a small purchase there and then just window shopped at the others in the area. San Isidro is a more affluent area than San Fernando which was evident by the nicely dressed shoppers and the quality of stores that we passed.

We, then, headed towards the Cathedral of San Isidro. It is a famous landmark of the area having been designed by French architects and built in 1898. It is so tall that we can see it's spire off in the distance from our balcony.

It was so tall that we could not get it in one picture from where we were standing. The red speck standing in front of the cathedral is me. We have been in it before, but didn't take pictures. We didn't have time today to make a return visit inside.

The main focus of our shopping spree today was to return to the stores in the underground mall beneath the Tren de la Costa. This train line goes from Tigre up the coast almost to the Capital. It is a nicer train, costs more, and has a scenic view of the bay. We have ridden it once before but never got off in San Isidro to investigate this mall. But, when Sister Argyle's parents were here at Christmas time, she invited us to join her and her parents when she took them there. We made a few purchased then, and could see that we needed to return. The prices were much lower than Calle Florida up in the Capital.

Before shopping, we were hungry so decided to patronize a little cafe that had a Neopolitan Pizza advertized as a special today. Eating was either outside or inside. We chose inside.

The pizza was the perfect size for two to share and very, very good. It hit the spot and our energy was renewed. Our cute waitress agreed to take our picture.

The stairs lead from the main street level to the area below where the stores are located.

One of the purchases I have wanted to make in Argentina is a purse made from Carpincho. It is the largest living rodent in the world. The skins are prized as high quality leather and have a distinct pattern. Purses, shoes, briefcases, wallets, jackets, hats -- all kinds of things have been made from this leather and they are quite costly. Finding an outlet away from the areas that cater to tourists is best to purchase an item at a more reasonable cost. I found a purse I liked so the shopkeeper and I were happy.

The name Carpincho means Master of the Grasses. They grow four feet in length and up to 140 lbs. They are semi-aquatic mammals and are found wild in much of South America. They live by rivers, swamps, and most water areas. They can remain under water for five minutes at a time without surfacing for air.

Another shop we stopped at was this lady who sold leather items like wallets, notebook covers, bookmarks etc. and had a hot engraving tool that she used to write names on the leather. She said that a past mission president would come in and order several bookmarks at a time and have her write Elder on them. She said she could never figure out why there were so many with the same name. Then she found out it was a title. He must have been giving them to the missionaries for their birthday or something. We should have discovered this long ago and we could have given one to each office elder as a gift when they transferred out of the office. We bought one for Elder Hales and Elder Peterson to give to them when they leave, and one for Elder Coria that we will give to him when we see him.

We shopped around and made a couple other purchases finding out that discounts are given if paid in cash. Using a debit card adds to the amount. It was a very fruitful day at the underground mall and our pocketbook was drained.

This is what we do -- wait at bus stops! But on weekends it is a long drawn out process sometimes due to fewer buses on the road. From the time we sat down at this stop, it took us one hour before we got home. We arrived around 4:00.

We had a couple hours before we had to leave to go to Tigre for the baptism that Elder Kroff was to perform. We were excited to NOT have to wait for a bus this trip, as the President's car is at the office and we were going to use it tonight. Since we have the car we could leave later and still arrive at the appointed hour. And, then after the baptism it would be so wonderful to have a way home without more waiting for the colectivo.

Rich went to get the car and found that a municipal activity was being held at the church and someone had parked in front of our gate!!!! WHAT???? He couldn't get the car out!! Oh, for Pete's sake!! Now what? We had spent all our cash today and only had enough to take a remise one way, and we scrounged around the apartment and found just barely enough coins for the bus. If we take the bus over we could be late if we have to wait very long, but waiting for a bus at night after dark could take us an hour to get home. We had to hurry because we were leaving later as it was, but we decided to walk to the bus stop and take our chances on this end.

We know that Heavenly Father is watching over us and is taking care of his missionaries, as EXACTLY as we approached the bus stop, the VERY bus we needed that would take us right in front of the church came by. If we would have arrived even thirty seconds later, we would have missed the bus. To us it was divine intervention.

Beatriz del Carmen Hermosid is 77 years old and so happy to be a member of the church. She had contact with missionaries in the past but hadn't received an answer to be baptized. She recently said she picked up her Book of Mormon and started reading it again and prayed for an answer if it was true and received her witness. The sisters retaught her the lessons to be sure she understood everything and said she was ready. She requested Elder Kroff to baptize her, but we are unsure how she knew of him. We had never met her before. She is a sweet lady and had a nice gathering of family with her for this important event.

Upon leaving the church, we waited about 10 minutes at the bus stop on the corner, then decided to just take a remise home. What a fun filled day we had topped off with the baptism of sweet sister Beatriz.