Some New Friends - Monday, May 10, 2010

After a wonderful weekend we were rested and ready to begin another week building the kingdom here in Buenos Aires. It was another cloudless, beautiful day and when the sun came up it bathed our kitchen and front room with lots of brightness.

The office work wasn't too taxing today. I am not feeling overwhelmed and seem to be caught up or right on schedule with what I have to do. I, then, realized that we only have three new missionaries coming on the June 1 transfer day. Five were scheduled, but one was postponed, and one, who is in the MTC right now, has broken his foot playing some kind of sports there, and will be coming a month later. So, that leaves us with three which is so unusual. After tomorrow, I will have all the carpetas done for them.

We have seven missionaries leaving this time and preparing those packets won't take long either. Am I getting faster??? I still have some ordering to do, but I have three weeks left to do it. I must be forgetting something really big that I usually do, but I can't come up with it just yet. Humm!

The elders weren't extremely stressed out with work either today. Elder Kroff went to the bank to replenish our personal money as we were down to about one peso. Then, he and I walked to the correo a couple blocks away to buy a mailing box in which to send Urban's birthday gift. His birthday isn't until June 23, but their Christmas presents took forever to get there making me really nervous that they wouldn't have them in time, so we aren't taking a chance on the birthday present. It is going this week.

President Argyle called in the afternoon and invited Rich and I over for Family Home Evening tonight. Awww Gee!! We had to decline because tonight is when we are going over to the Garcias to visit. This is the couple the Branch President wanted us to visit because he fears they are having marital problems. We would have loved to join the Argyles for FHE, but visiting and fellowshipping this couple is part of what missionaries do and we are glad for the chance to help.

We left the office around 4:00 so we could rest a little and have something to eat before we went to the Garcias. I fixed us a hotdog and some oven cooked french fries, and then we called a remise to take us to their home, since we didn't know exactly where it was. It was a fair distance from our place and we could probably have taken the bus, but we didn't know the area and thought this was safer.

We had a delightful visit with Ezequiel and Rocio Garcia and their two year old daughter, Delfina. Rocio has been a member of the church for 15 years and Ezequiel was just baptized last November. They had been together for about five years and when he decided to be baptized, they were married one day and he was baptized the next. He was made Young Men's president shortly after his baptism which we thought was a pretty demanding calling for such a new member. But, he has survived and done well with his wife helping him prepare his Sunday lessons for the boys. Rocio has taught a Sunday School class for some of the youth, and was released so that she could attend the Temple Preparation class. Ezequiel can attend as it won't conflict with his Young Men's lesson. So we hope to see them there this Sunday. We understand they have been a little hit and miss in attending church, but they committed to come to class next Sunday.

In visiting with them, it was not evident to us if they were having any marital problems. They never indicated there was any trouble between them, and in fact made the comment that before they were married, if they had a fight, they would just separate for a while, but now that they are married, they take it more seriously and know they have to remain together and work things out. Rich expounded on that and gave the thoughts he had prepared regarding marriage and the problems that arise in a divorce, hoping that if those thoughts ever surfaced that they would reflect on his words.

We were surprised when we got there that she had all the fixings prepared for tacos. We didn't know we were going to have dinner with them. Argentines don't eat early, so we sat around their very small kitchen visiting and watching Delfina play. Their home consists of a kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom that had a double bed and single bed in it and a wardrobe. There was no living room area, only the kitchen.

We managed to eat a couple of tacos and a slice of the postre that she made. It was all very good and they were so excited to have us at their home. Delfina talks so good for just two years old. She is a bright little girl, and oh, so cute.

I mentioned that we wanted to visit the Temaiken Zoo sometime while we are here, and Rocio spoke up and said they wanted to go too and we could all go together and they would drive. They wrote down detailed instructions of what bus to take to get to their place so we could come visit them again. They insisted on walking us to the bus stop and waited until we were safely on the bus back home. We were glad for the company as there were little groups of teenagers along the street on the way to the bus and we felt comfortable having chaperones as we walked.

We are so grateful for our new friends even if we are old enough to be their grandparents. They were wonderful hosts and seemed genuinely pleased that we wanted to come to their home for a visit.

We got home at 9:40 surprised that we had been with them for almost three hours. Getting to know them was definitely a pay day!