Bishop's Storehouse - Tuesday, June 22, 2010

We were surprised this morning that both of us claimed we were a little cold at times during the night. Our thick blanket has always been sufficient, but maybe we need to throw another one over us. The temperature at night has dropped significantly lately, so we are feeling the effects of it. Elder Hales said he woke up at times feeling a little cold also.

The plan for today was to either take or send in a remise several bags of clothing and miscellaneous items from the Argyles out to Escobar to the Bishop's Storehouse. We didn't even know one exists. Last week before the family went South, they loaded up one of the cars with the clothes, toys, a sleeping bag, hats, coats, and even two of President Argyle's suits that they are not taking home. They are donating them for future use to the Bishop's Storehouse.

We could have called a remise to deliver them, but since Rich and I have wanted to visit various zones out and away from the center of Buenos Aires, and since we didn't have pressing issues at the office, we decided to take a little drive and deliver them ourselves.

The Bishop's storehouse is right behind the chapel in Escobar. We went to that church for part of the mission tour we attended on our second day here in Argentina. So we knew what it looked like, but not how to get there. The trusty GPS directed us on about a 30 minute drive on the autopista.

We were greeted by some service missionaries in the food section of the storehouse. We weren't sure if there was some canning of food taking place, but the caps covering their heads, gloves, and protective coverings over their clothes gave us that impression.

Hermana Moreyra is a service missionary and the manager over the clothing section of the storehouse. She was anxious to show us around and explain what they have and need. It isn't a large place, and as we went upstairs to see the missionary section, we had to bend low to go under some beams between sections. She said they are always desperate for clothes to outfit missionaries, and encourages the elders and sisters at the end of their missions to donate dresses, skirts, blouses, suits, slacks, white shirts, coats, shoes (but they would probably be worn out shoes) anything that missionaries called from this area could use for their own missions. All of them don't have the money to buy new clothes. White shirts and suits are desperately needed. We were wondering why President Argyle was giving away two really nice looking suits.

The clothes are washed and pressed and hung on racks, displayed nicely for sale. Two deacons were volunteering their services today and helped carry the bags in from our car. We were wondering why they were not in school.

Along with Hermana Moreyra being called as a missionary to manage the clothing section, she is also the only worker. They can't find the help needed. She receives, sorts, washes, presses, and organizes all of it. But, she doesn't do any of the mending or sewing. They have sewing machines, but not much help. A couple ladies come once a month to do some sewing. Sometimes they stay one hour to six hours and do as much as they can. Hermana Moreyra doesn't have time to sew as she is busy doing everything else. She said that she has served several missions there because after her time is over, they can't find anyone else willing to do it, so they call her on another mission. She has done it several times. What a saint!!

We were thrilled to learn something new today and visit the storehouse. It makes me want to send some new white shirts down here. Perhaps we can give some of Elder Kroff's shirts to them before we leave in October. And just maybe our daughters can pack a couple in their suitcases to bring when they come to visit. Hmmmm!

How excited we were to learn that the Temaiken Zoo that we have heard so much about and are trying to find a time to visit is just down the road from the church and storehouse. Yippee! We drove past it and it is simply to find. Many signs lead the way.

We were also told about Munchi's!! It is a quaint restaurant/Ice Cream parlor that is situated in a beautifully landscaped park with tables and benches around for enjoying the outdoors while eating the delicious treat. It must be a popular place because there were parking spaces to accomodate buses. The sun was shining but it was a cold day, so not too many people were in the mood for ice cream -- except us. We couldn't pass up a cone!

Our next errand of the day was to head in the opposite direction to the south towards the Capital and Bonpland. The brakes on the President's car are squealing a little bit, so they told us to bring it in today and we could have it back tomorrow. The distance of 37 kilometers on the autopista was a nice drive and we really enjoyed seeing something other than the area around San Fernando or our usual route to the Capital.

After dropping the car off, we caught a taxi to the train station and arrived back at the office at 3:00. Now we have to decide who will pick up the car tomorrow -- us or the elders. We also need to get both cars back to the mission home for when the Argyles return which we think is tomorrow night.

Today was order out Chinese for lunch with the elders. They selected a wonderful variety of things on the menu but had to eat without us because we were so late. They had two nice plates ready for us to put in the microwave when we returned. So that was dinner for us today. We'll need nothing else tonight. It was tasty and we were stuffed.

We left at 4:00 to come home and catch the second half of the World Cup Soccer match between Argentina and Greece. I can't believe we are into it like we are. Argentina has not lost a game and today they beat Greece 2 - 0. We are even becoming familiar with the players and their names. Crazy!!