Birthday Boy - Wednesday, September 15, 2010

If I didn't have so much to do at the office today, and if it weren't Elder Peterson's birthday I may have crawled right back in bed and slept for a few more hours. I thought for sure after a night's sleep that all my aches and pains would be gone. Not so! I was just sooo tired still. But a hot shower helped and I got ready for the day.

We hurried along with our morning routine and added to it was cutting the brownies and putting them on a plate. We wanted to get to the office by 8:30 hoping the elders would not come early. We had purchased four ballons from a local Kiosco up the street and they were quite thick and tough and I had a devil of a time putting a knot in the end of the balloon. It was frustrating. I could not artistically place the balloons where I wanted them because the tape here is horrible. It does not stick well, and if and when it does adhere, it leaves a gummy residue when pulled off the surface. So I had to resort to just taping them to the top of his overhead cabinet. It did add color but wasn't too creative.

Elder Peterson is 20 years old today and seemed pleased and surprised to have a fuss made over him. The plate of brownies will go with the ice cream we are ordering for this afternoon.

We also gave him some bon bon candies that he likes. He is such a cute boy and a real gentleman. We have fun working with him, but I am afraid his time in the office will come to an end before we finish our mission. I hope the next secretary takes care of us like he has.

After answering some health calls and then calling around to gather up baptismal registers, I started the real work of my day to put together the mail and supplies for two more zones. Tomorrow the Zone Conference being held will be for the Litoral and Sarmiento zones. It will be held in our church so the bins won't have far to go -- just through one door.

We are in the Litoral zone so we will be involved with the conference tomorrow. In doing that, we still have to be aware of when the correo comes. It is a real headache if packages are sent back to the post office. We need to figure this out tomorrow.

Elder Kroff went to the bank to cash the check the President signed late last night. Lately he has had a lot of expenditures from his cajachica which requires preparing and cashing checks to replenish it. He went to the bank two days in a row to cash sizeable checks. Today the bank teller said to him, "You aren't planning to come back again tomorrow, are you?" They told him they were low on funds and probably wouldn't be able to cash his check if he did. A bank low on funds?

Lunch time came and this morning I wasn't sure I would feel like eating anything so I just made Rich a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But, Sister Bolentini's food for the elders came by remise today and there was ample to share. So the elders insisted we eat with them. I felt better as the day went on, so I was hungry by lunch time and we enjoyed milanesa, a combination of potatoes, peas, and carrots (they call it a potato salad) and a fruit salad. It tasted good.

We ordered a kilo of ice cream with four flavors inside for our birthday treat. Elders Paz, Valente, Kroff, and Peterson are all smiles as they devour their favorite. Elder Valente came back from the South today with some wonderful experiences he had. The President sent him down there last week to work, but he is back now finishing up his mission which will end on Monday. He is not happy to be leaving the mission. We will miss him - mucho! He was glad to be here for the ice cream and brownies, however.

Finally my flights came in for the Latinos going home in three weeks. The guy at the travel agency at the Area Offices that handles all our flights doesn't order them as soon as I would like. I send them to him at least two months in advance, but he never takes care of it until about three or four weeks before departure, and usually a reminder has to be given for any action to take place. That's what happened this time.

Before leaving the office around 5:00, I started feeling bad again and just wanted to be home where I could lay down. So upon arriving that is just what I did. Then I got up and ironed four white shirts and did this journal entry.

We received an email from one of the senior couples at the Area Offices (Bonpland) inviting us on a day trip to Colonia, Uruguay this coming Monday. Oh how we would like to go, but will need approval from the President. Rich just emailed him about it, but if he feels uncomfortable about it, we will completely understand.