Thanksgiving Day - Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

We were excited for today to be here because we were invited to a real Thanksgiving dinner with the Area Presidency. But, first we had a day of work to complete.

Rich and I had the office to ourselves all day long, and we missed our elders. At 8:00, Elders Peterson and Paz left to go to customs to get missionary mail that ended up there. It is THE MOST undesireable thing to do in office work. Besides being a major hassle to wait three or four hours for the packages that don't come down the conveyor belt all at once, getting there in all the morning traffic is a nightmare. It took them three hours just to drive there this morning. They called at 11:00 and said they just arrived. If the traffic is light, it takes about 45 minutes. Then they have to wait in a long line, and at 3:00 when Rich called to see how they were doing, they were waiting for two more packages that couldn't be located.

It is just an all day process that makes one weary and grumpy. There is definitely something wrong with their system and this goes on all day every day at customs. One would think some revamping and reorganization would take place to update and refine their laborious method.

Since we were not in the office at all yesterday, we had things waiting for us to do. Rich had zone money to call about and I had calls to make about baptismal registers. Plus I worked on my desk manual for Sister Schoeny. It is looking pretty good and I should have it completed by tomorrow.

By the time we left at 4:00, the elders were still not back. I felt soooo sorry for them being stuck up there all day long without any food. Next time they should take a lunch with them.

We came home to leave some things and freshen up a bit before leaving for the Capital. The Area Presidency was hosting the dinner for the senior couples and others. We probably would not have been invited because they don't know us and don't see us regularly like they do the seniors who work at the Area Offices. But yesterday when we were there with Sister Gillum we met two of the wives of the Presidency in the lobby and upon finding out who we were and where we served, we were invited to join them. We gladly accepted. It would be the first and last time we would ever have a Thanksgiving dinner with three General Authorities. Who could turn that down???

Dinner was at 6:00. We rode the train to Belgrano and then took a taxi to the home of the Area Presidency. When we were almost there, the taxi driver told us that due to the heavy traffic and the route he would have to take to get us there, that we could get out and walk there faster. He explained where it was and we were grateful he gave us that suggestion. It was only about three blocks away and we were plenty early, so walking the rest of the way used up a little time.

The three General Authorities who run this South America South Area are Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis, who is from Brazil and speaks fluent English (counselor). Elder Mervyn B. Arnold (center) is the Area President, and Elder Bradley D. Foster is a counselor. Elder Arnold and Elder Aidukaitis are in the First Quorum of the Seventy, and Elder Foster is in the Second Quorum. They were serving up dessert when I snapped this picture. They and their wives were so personable and made everyone feel important and welcome.

All three brethren live in the same building which just has three apartments -- big apartments which are more like three homes one on top of the other. They occupy the whole building which is owned by the church. There is a security guard downstairs by the front entrance who is a member of the church and he is outfitted with a monitor where cameras placed in strategic locations view the building and areas surrounding it.

There is a terrace/roof top area that is perfect for parties and entertaining. The Thanksgiving spread was all the favorites and to us, the turkey never tasted so good. The stuffing, potatoes and gravy, salad, sweet potatoes, cranberries, relishes, and rolls all hit the spot. Pumpkin pie, carrot cake with sauce, and banana cream pie were served for dessert. It was all absolutely to die for.

This table and one beyond the pillar fit perfectly to accommodate the crowd. It was a pleasant evening with the sun being blocked by tall buildings around the terrace.

President and Sister Arnold are wonderful people and were gracious hosts. After dinner, he had everyone tell one thing they were thankful for. Of course we all had more than one thing, but we had to limit it. One brother even said he was thankful for Penguinos because they are such cute little things. He obviously had just visited them in the South. We nodded our heads in agreement.

An interesting note is that Elder Arnold was President Argyle's mission president when he served as a youth. He obviously was a young misson president in his early 40's like President Argyle. He served as President of the Costa Rica mission.

Elder and Sister Foster are a nice couple. Elder Foster is very down to earth and personable. They are getting something called "sling" that can be transmitted from their television at home to their TV over here. Sister Foster wants some American TV so she can understand what they are saying. She is a fan of Dancing with the Stars and wants to keep up with it.

Elder Aidukaitis is on fire about missionary work. He is from Brazil and served as a Mission President there before becoming a General Authority. He came on a mission tour last February and fired up the missionaries to do more and better in their service. His wife was in the U.S. seeing their first grandchild that had just been born. His children Antony and Vivian ate dinner with us and are delightful children, both English and Spanish speakers as well.

President and Sister George are over the MTC here in Buenos Aires. They are a delightful couple and we have talked to them a few times when we have had occasion to go to the MTC to pick someone up or do an errand there.

We took a group photo before the party broke up and a copy is being emailed to everyone. I took individual couple pictures of everyone so we could remember who was there on this special Thanksgiving. The Arnolds are lovely people and we are glad we were here long enough to make their acquaintance and learn more about them. They just arrived in July.

We took a taxi to the train station and made our way home arriving around 9:30 p.m. What looked like a regular day at the office with no turkey and pumpkin pie turned out to be a memorable occasion for sure.