Sharing the Gospel - Thursday, May 6, 2010

Our day started good and ended good. It was cool and crisp outside which warranted wearing coats to the office. Some rain was in the forecast earlier in the day to lessen as time went on.

The four of us arrived about the same time -- we are hardly ever there before 9:00 anymore. Casual chatter went on for a few minutes after our usual morning greetings. The guys hug and I get a handshake along with my normal. . . "Hola, Buen Dia, Como esta?"

Elder Peterson and Elder Kroff were all wrapped up working on the Mother's Day phone calls. Some parents were emailing with questions and making sure they had correct phone numbers for the important call. They were each answering emails that had been sent.

Elder Hales was having a great morning being successful in using what he learned from President Argyle in negotiating new contracts on apartments. Of course, I didn't know what was going on during his conversations, but Elder Kroff would compliment him after a phone call telling him he hung in there tough with the dueño in working out a reasonable increase for the new rent. He was so pleased with himself, as he should be!

It seemed good to be through with filling orders for supplies and packing bins for zone conferences. I remained at my desk happy to have the time to enter the 25 baptisms from last week. I did eighteen today with seven more to be done as they continue to come in or as I get clarification on some that are hard to read due to poor fax jobs. Later in the day I did other odds and ends to fill my time.

Using the restrooms in the church was put on hold for quite a while today as they have hired a cleaning crew that is deep cleaning the church. They had some kind of an acid wash that they had on the floors in the restrooms which prevented anyone from entering. When they started the "members cleaning the church" program here, things really started to deteriorate. They just didn't catch on to how it was to be done, or what needed attention every week and things were getting pretty gross. Today it smelled so good and the restrooms were unbelievably clean. We imagine it will take more than one day to go through each room, so they will probably be there tomorrow. It will be fun to see other improvements.

Rich and I left at 4:00 right behind the elders, as we were meeting the sisters in Tigre in front of the train station. They called and asked if we could accompany them to an appointment with a family in Tigre.

We went to the home of the Segovia family. They have lived together for 20 years and have 11 children with another on the way. They have had missionaries over the years, but the father was not receptive so not much progress was made in getting the family into the church. Only one son is a member, but he doesn't attend any more. Hermanas Shaffer and Sandoval were so excited that the father agreed to join in the discussion tonight.

The oldest daughter has had a baby, so when the mother delivers, there will actually be 13 children living under one roof. We do not see how they do it. The father works, but is very crippled due to some kind of an injection he had when he was young. He walks without assistance but has a very pronounced limp. The older daughters were not present for the discussion and came home as we ended. They were very cute, friendly, and well kept. It is a very attractive family and the children treated us with respect and seemed pleased we were all there.

The sisters wanted us to come with them so the father and mother could see an older couple in the church who had been married for many years. They are encouraging the parents to get married and be an eternal family in the gospel. Most of the family came to an activity at the church last Friday that the missionaries held, and agreed to let the missionaries come to their home in hopes that the Dad would participate in the lesson.

We only saw one room in their home which was a tiny kitchen with a table and a stove . . and a bed. Curtains were up at doorways which probably led to bedrooms and a bathroom. So outside the door to the house was a covered area where there was a wood burning stove and a pile of firewood. We sat in this area to have the lesson. The stove heated up the partially enclosed area, and it was comfortable.

David is the son who has been baptized, and was busy working on fixing a flat tire on his bike.

We took the colectivo to the area in Tigre where the family lives, and on the bus we met Cidria Luna and her daughter Valentina who are members of the Tigre branch. They also live near the Segovia family and are very active members. The sisters told them where we were going and towards the end of the lesson, they rode their bikes over to join us. They are good fellowshippers.

Sister Luna has eight children with Valentina being the youngest. Her husband died two years ago of lung cancer and never joined the church, but all of her children are members. The missionaries had another person to visit in the area, so this sweet mother and daughter walked us to a bus stop and waiting until the right one came along that would take us directly home to San Fernando. We were grateful for their companionship as the area was a bit intimidating.

We arrived home around 9:00, and could not get our key to unlock the front door to the apartment building. I have trouble with mine sometimes, but Rich never does. We couldn't figure it out. On the inside two ladies who live here were talking, so they opened the door with their key. Then, they proceeded to tell us that the locks had been changed and we could go to apartment 4C where Lucila, the apartment administrator, was giving out new keys. If those ladies had not have been at the door when we arrived, we would have not known what to do. We would have been locked out. There was no note telling people to buzz 4C for help getting in the building.

We learned that the reason for the lock change is that the "robber" who lived in the building and was our neighbor who broke into our apartment a year ago and helped himself to all of our valuables and computers and who had burglarized other apartments over time, had now moved. They were changing locks to prevent him from coming back as he would have keys to the building. We don't think he spent much time here as we have never seen him since December when he came with all of us to the first security meeting that was held because of the problems that were going on in the building. He probably came to see how much everyone knew. When he was discovered, but never arrested, he probably stayed away as much as he could.

It was good to be home safe and sound in our warm cozy apartment. The longer we live here in Argentina we become more aware of our blessings.