Census Day - Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Today was Census Day in Argentina. Everyone or at least a responsible member of the family had to be home to answer the questions of the census taker. A hefty fine was being assessed to those who didn't answer the door. So it was like a holiday in Argentina with all businesses closed and no one on the streets in the morning hours.

The missions received instructions from the Area Office that all missionaries would remain in their apartments until the census taker had come to count them. We slept in an hour and leisurely got ready for the day not knowing how long we would be here.

At 9:30 our buzzer rang downstairs so Rich went down to let Eliana in the building. She started on the top floor with us. We were amazed at all the questions she ask, and in addition to the obvious one of how many people live in our apartment, she gathered information about the water, electricity, phone lines, what the walls and ceiling were made of, and how many rooms there were. It seemed they were more interested in what the house looked like than how many people lived here.

Anyway, she was a cute girl and we enjoyed her visit. We also thought that if each census worker had to fill out that form for all of the 13 million people here in Buenos Aires, that it might take them a lot longer than one day. Eliana told us that she was in charge of our building and the houses on one side of our block. There must be a lot of people employed as census workers today if the areas to canvas are that small.

After she left, we took our time getting ourselves ready and a few things done here before we left for the office. We arrived about 11:00 and were surprised to see the office elders there. Their census worker came early too.

We gave Elder Peterson the name and address of Melissa's Argentine friend, Viviana, as a reference for the missionaries. At first it looked like she might live in the West Mission, but then he confirmed that she was in our mission and lived in the Liniers zone. Elder Charles and Elder Gerez would be the ones to contact her, so I called Elder Charles and gave him some background on her.

We didn't bring our lunch to the office with us today and thought we would just order some empanadas to be delivered. What were we thinking??? Every business was closed and the whole city was practically shut down. So we decided to go home for something to eat. It was already 2:00 when we got there so I decided to make some spaghetti and have a tossed salad. We were going with the Assistants to a teaching appointment at 5:00, so it would work out well to have our dinner earlier in the afternoon. Then after the meeting, a light sandwich or snack would be just enough.

The Assistants wanted us to meet their investigator who is Irene Mercado. She is a 69 year old lady who saw President and Sister Gulbrandsen at a fruit market. When she noticed their placas which identified the church, she went up to them and said, "I've never been to that church, but I want to go." That resulted in a meeting with the Assistants as she lived in their area, and President and Sister Gulbrandsen went with them to the first meeting. She liked everything she heard in the first discussion and a baptism date on November 13 was set if she finds it all to be true.

Living with Irene is a 55 year old lady that has Downs Syndrome. Her housekeeper is a gal in her 30's who lives with her during the week and goes home on weekends as she lives about three hours away. She was taking care of this lady and I guess it was through her that Irene is now the caretaker.

We found Irene to be very educated and self sufficient. Her apartment had a beautiful china hutch and book case, nice furniture, and was very clean and tidy. Two husband had passed away and she is divorced from the third. She does have a couple of children and some grandchildren. She was quite expressive and the elders would have to rein her in to keep her on the subject at hand. She said she has waited 69 years to find the right church and hear what she was being taught. Everytime she learned something new about the gospel that appealed to her, it would make her cry.

We enjoyed our time with her and she was very complimentary to me as she said she felt a special spirit with me as I entered her home. Elder Lowry would interpret for me all that was being said when he wasn't involved in the teaching moments. We were glad they invited us to go with them to meet her.