Holidays in May - Wednesday, May 19, 2010

We are happy when we have a good nights sleep and wake up refreshed. In our morning prayer we always express thanks that we are healthy enough to serve in this mission where we walk alot and also have to carry our heavy groceries home from the store (if we don't take our cart on wheels). We have had the strength to maintain an abundance of physical activity, and for this we are very grateful.

Today was Immigration day for Elder Peterson. He was taking six elders to the Capital to get their temporary residency done. This is the least favorite thing the elders do who sit at that desk, so sometimes they get behind and it causes them lots of stress. But, Elder Peterson has really been on top of this ongoing project. He has it all organized and knows who needs to go when, and digs in and keeps the process moving along. I'm impressed he has it under control as I would dislike that responsiblity big time.

Elders Kroff and Hales were out and about this morning doing some checking on which businesses were going to be open next Monday. Since May 1st, Argentina's Labor Day, was on a Saturday, the President of Argentina has declared next Monday, May 24, as the day to celebrate that holiday. But it is unclear if it will be a total closure of everything like it will be on Tuesday when the May Day Revolution is celebrated. Tuesday is the big 25 de mayo holiday in Argentina. This holiday is considered the starting point of the Argentine War of Independence. So next week we have two holidays back to back.

Since P-day is Monday, President Argyle wanted to know if the internet places, the laundries, and grocery stores were going to be open for the missionaries to patronize. If not, he was considering changing P-day to Wednesday. So, Elder Kroff and Elder Hales took a walk around San Fernando asking various establishments if they were going to be open. They found a mixture of responses, but it didn't look like having P-day remain on Monday would be a problem for the mission. However, we feel pretty certain the correo will be closed those two days. No mail delivery to worry about for us in the office.

On holidays the phone calls drop off drastically, and if there isn't mail delivery either, Rich and I are taking off in the afternoon and going to scout out a place close to the Area Offices that have outside activities to commemorate the Labor Day holiday. Then we are going to Dr. Anderson's apartment for a farewell dinner with the other senior couples, as two couples are leaving for home soon. So we are looking forward to next week. The office elders may be leaving early too to go out and work. They don't get a holiday.

I almost have my order ready to send in to the Distribution Center for our supplies. Compiling the list of what I need and then finding it in the program on the computer is very time consuming because it is in Spanish. I can read and understand what I am looking for, but making sure the numbers are correct and everything is entered properly is very time consuming. I am always glad when this task is finished.

We came home shortly after 4:00 so I could get some dinner fixed and ready for Rich to eat before he had to return to the church to teach the Temple Prep lesson to the boyfriend of Elisa. Six o'clock was the appointed hour and both of them were on time. Nicolas was baptized last November, so the couple plan on being married in the temple in December. Rich was impressed with his knowledge of the gospel and said he was a nice boy.

While he was gone, I did the dishes, ironed four white shirts, washed some small area rugs, and read the Larson's and Doyle's blogs. I need to email some friends or I may be taken off their list.

Hermana Shaffer just called and told us that they have six baptisms (two families) on Saturday evening. Wow! That's great! She asked us to go with them tomorrow at 5:30 to a discussion with one of the families. And, Elder Kroff has been asked to help baptize some of the six people. We had been invited to a movie night with the other seniors and to go out to dinner on Saturday night, but we'll have to cancel. Duty calls!! We'll still get to be with the other senior couples at the dinner on Monday night.