Sunday, February 28, 2016

Not Too Trunky YET

Well it's been a long busy time since we have updated so here we go.
 
First, we have a great District Leader in Elder Lawrence.  
I am told that his mom reads our blog so here is a shout-out for Elder Lawrence who is doing a stellar job as District Leader here in Valle de Uco!  Sister Lawrence you and your entire family can be very pleased with your son's service here in Argentina.  It has been a pleasure getting to know him and working with him.
 
We have been passing by a metal sign with metal letters in downtown Eugenio Bustos for months that has had broken letters U and I that were hanging sideways. 
We have been gonna gonna gonna fix it one of these days so we finally got around to a small community service project and finally did it.
 
We helped teach Maria Bautista, who was baptized last year. 
She had a beautiful baby in January that weighed over 10 pounds!  Maria and Emanuel are proud parents of not-so-little Roberto.
 
We had another of our monthly outings with the other couple missionaries in January which is the middle of summer down here. 
 
We went horseback riding through the dangerous wilds of the grape and olive vineyards of Lujan, just outside of Mendoza.  It was a lot of fun after a big lunch at the best steakhouse we have experienced here in Argentina.  The Argentine saddles are way different (no saddle horn) and not as good and stable as those in the US but nobody fell off!
 
Another family we have been teaching is the Auca family from Bolivia. 
Wilbur and his father Basilio live in very humble circumstances on a farm in a one room house they built themselves that has a dirt floor.  If you look carefully you can see the unfolded cardboard box insulation on the interior walls.  Basilio is an Evangelical Minister and we have had some interesting discussions with him.  They have not yet decided to be baptized but are getting closer as time goes on.  We love these guys!
 
We have been teaching Nilda Ortiz who has had a son on a mission in Bolivia for the past two years.  
 
David just got home this month and we took Nilda, her daughter Cintia and grand daughter, Flori, up to the airport in Mendoza to pick him up.  Arrivals at the airport of returning missionaries are ALWAYS very special and tender experiences whether you are family or not.  He is a fine, handsome young man who won't last long being single!
 
Linda had the Young Women over to our house for a cooking activity for the Personal Progress program.
They all had fun making white sauce for chicken soup.  We all enjoyed the yummy fruits of their labors at the end of the activity!
 
We had two more baptisms this month. 
Dario (10) and Malena (8) Condo are the newest members of the La Consulta Branch. They are great kids and are reading the children's Book of Mormon and attending church every Sunday.
 
We have been wondering what our good friends Paul and Debbie Hom have been doing since they have returned from their mission in England.  Well, we have discovered that they are secretly spending time here in the Eugenio Bustos area in Argentina. 

We spotted them driving around in their Ford Fiesta with their personalized license plate the other day.  Those sneaky critters!
 
We now have only 10 days left on our mission which ends March 9th. We may have one more blog post before we leave.