March 26, 2012   Tucumán   Argentina

 

Toda jolla?! (Tucuman slang for "hows it going")

Well we finally got Rosa baptized! We were about to do it last week but it didn’t work out. It was in our smaller branch of about 15 people and no one came partly due to it being unsure until the last minute. The day before she told us she wasn’t going to be able to make it to church on Sunday because she had to leave town. We told her she had to get confirmed on Sunday and she wasn’t sure when she would be back so it was either do it or not. She was thinking about what she could do and then the phone rang and she found out she didn’t have to go! (silent prayer answered!) I just couldn’t believe how much resistance she received before her baptism. There was so much going against her. But in the end a friend of hers and 2 of her grandkids(adults) came and her son in-law(our branch president’s 1^st counselor) was the one who baptized her. It was very spiritual. She bore her testimony on Sunday during fast and testimony meeting too so that was really cool! This one kid named Facundo is really bouncing around with doubts and desires. He will get baptized this weekend though hopefully before conference since its starts at 1 here.

We had a few inactive members to church who really liked it and are excited to go again next week to conference. The guy has quite a history including just getting out of jail... he is super happy though to go church again and is going to be looking to get married once he gets a job and can pay for the papers and stuff he needs.

This week a super poor family wanted to make us some pastries and we were a little hesitant but said that would be great because they wouldn’t have let us say no. So this week when we got to one of our appointments with them we smelled this horrible smell really powerful right before we walked in... we were looking at each other questioning if we should clap or not. We clapped and she came around to greet us super excited and when we went into the yard around their kid’s house she had a bunch of big darn good looking donut things. I figured, better that they are fried than anything because it would kill everything. When she put them on the table there was a new smell and it wasn’t what we were smelling before. They had the peeling of a lime shredded into the batter and it was super good! She sent us with some too for the road. They still haven’t made it to church yet because they need a lock for their door or someone to watch the house while they go but the husband has been late getting back from visiting his son in jail on Sundays too. The son in jail has a book of Mormon and wants to come to church when he gets out so that’s pretty cool. I guess he will be out soon for good behavior.

The last missionaries who were here left us without paying the November and December electric bill so our power got cut... we went the next day on a bus into town to go see why they cut it  and were able to pay them and get it hooked back up that same day. Only a few things went bad in the fridge. haha

The other elders in the pench
grinding it in front of them. They didn’t think anything of it but we were told by members it was probably horse with all sorts of innards ground up in it... they were going to the bathroom that night so it might have been in the fridge for a while too. haha never really know what you could be eating here! DOG?... hope not...

We ate at this member’s house and their cat (full grown) was nursing from the dog... they said that they took the cat in when it was little and the dog just started taking care of it as her own baby and continues to nurse it... I thought... "only in Argentina" but I am sure it has happened else where, I just don’t know about it. ha

 

I learned this fast and testimony meeting in one of the branches that alot of the members are barely making it by day by day for food and still make lunches for us. It’s so amazing how strong some of the people are here and how much confidence they have in the Lord while others have no confidence at all. They will be great helps in teaching people we are finding!

We got a reference to a family who just lost their 23 year old son to some illness and are really sad and have no idea why, after asking God so much in prayer, he could take their son. So we talked a little about the plan of salvation and it seemed like they were alot better
than when we got there. We will see what happens this week. We left some things for them to read.

The gospel is such a great blessing in knowing that we can live together again after this life. I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ so that we can have this opportunity  to live, learn, and grow here on earth and return to live with all of our loved ones once
again. I know the church is true with all my heart and invite all to find out for yourselves the same by praying and asking your Heavenly Father if it is.

Love Alex