What a Treat - Thursday, May 13, 2010

We can't put our finger on the reason, but we haven't been leaving for the office until 9:00, and that is when we should be there. Of course, we won't have a dock in pay for being late, but usually we are ready to leave by 8:30 or 8:45. It might be because we go in slow motion so we can listen to as much of our story as possible. Who knows!!!

I haven't entered one baptism yet this week, but I only have about 18 to do. So that was my focus today until the President called and said that Sister Argyle could use my help with a project over at the mission home, if I could spare a little time. Absolutely!! He said he was coming over to the office at 11:00 to talk to a couple of missionaries, and to sign whatever was on his desk, and that Sister Argyle would follow to pick me up.

What a commotion she made when she walked in with this dessert of all desserts that she calls a brownie trifle. This is what is served at the farewell dinner on the day the missionaries leave for home. It not only looks gorgeous in this huge clear goblet type bowl, but it is to die for.

When Elder Kroff is at the mission home to settle up financially with the missionaries before they leave, he always eyes this dessert and drools. A couple of times when we have been there at the tail end of dinner, we have been offered a helping if some is left. Rich always manages to hint, beg, and make a super big deal about this creation and the fact that we won't get one for our departure dinner because the Argyles will be gone. Sister Argyle told him that she would make him one before she leaves.

This postre is layers of brownies, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream. So easy and naturally a hit with hungry chocolate loving missionaries.

Sister Argyle found the perfect time to make one for Rich as she gave it to him as a thank you for making her Mother's Day a special one. He did that by accepting all the calls and emails from mothers that could not make connections with their missionaries that day. She said that her first Mother's Day and Christmas were consumed with the problem phone calls. When Rich took it over, it lifted a huge burden from her.

Elder Peterson and Elder Hales did not know about this traditional ending to missionary service having never seen this trifle, so they were mighty glad to be in the office knowing that they would get to partake. Lucky will be those who pass by the office tomorrow and get offered a helping. Thank you Sister Argyle, you made our day!!

Sister Argyle and I left for the mission home where she needed me to help her update the tablero cards on the transfer board. Every transfer she writes on the back of the pictured card who the elder's companion is, where they are laboring, and the date. She does this for 160+ missionaries. Due to being stretched in several directions lately, she hasn't had the time to devote to this project. So, she asked for my help in updating the cards, and said that she will have me help again in June for her last time in doing it. It was actually quite fun and with two working it went rather quickly. She said I saved her a couple hours of work. I was sad that I didn't have the camera with me to document what we did.

When finished, she warmed up some soup for us to have for lunch. We enjoyed chatting over our meal and then she returned me to the office where I topped it off with a portion of the brownie trifle. It was heavenly!!

We again left at 4:00 as Elder Kroff had been asked by the Branch Presidency if they could meet with him tonight at 8:00. They told him they wanted go over a few things with him. Hmmm, wonder what's on their minds??

On our way home, we detoured up Constitucion to find a Libreria so I could buy two birthday cards for our grandsons, and some wrapping paper for gifts. High on our priority list for tomorrow is to get Urban's gift in the mail. Exito!! (success)

At home we had a light dinner of cereal for Rich and fruit and toast for me. Consuming that rich dessert so late in the day filled us up and we were not hungry for anything big , nor did we need it after all those calories.

I ironed white shirts and worked on two journal entries to get caught up while Rich kept his appointment with our Branch Presidency. They expressed sincere appreciation for having us in the branch and since they were all fairly new in the church, they wanted to ask Elder Kroff's advice on matters pertaining to the branch and how they could do things better. They were not aware he has been a bishop three times, nor did he offer that information. They saw him as a person with years of activity and experience in the church, and someone from whom they could learn. They want to become a ward, and want his advice and help in learning how they can achieve that goal.

They were elated that we visited the Garcia family and got a commitment from them to attend his Temple Prep class, and he told them of an appointment we made on Saturday to visit another family we haven't seen for a couple of weeks. The mother, Mirta, is on his roll for the class also. We are happy to do what we can to help this branch in the time we have left here in Argentina.

When Rich got home, Susanne and Thale skyped us and we had a good visit. We love this modern technology.