Vicente Lopez - Post 8

Gerardo's Baptism

Well yesterday we had a great event - Gerardo got baptized!  Trying to get everything organized was a bit crazy but it was a good moment :) I´ll tell you more about it later in the letter.

As for my week -

Monday we had P-day.  We went to Unicenter which is a huge shopping mall to buy stuff for winter.  It´s expensive so we won´t be going back anytime soon.  But Monday night we found a less active member.  Here they have security (neighborhood patrols) in the neighborhoods every couple blocks.  They are super friendly and we talk to them pretty often but they usually don't live here and work all the time so the missionaries where they do live can't stop by to teach them.  Well, we were with a member and my companion said she wanted to stop and talk with the patrol man so we did.  While we were talking with him, this little old man walked up to us and started talking.  Then he asked me where I was from.  When I told him North Carolina in the USA, he started to speak english UNCEASINGLY!  I'm pretty sure he talked about every single topic there ever was.  At one point the city patrol came by and let us know "His is in the Argentine Coast Guard, they are my friends and are good people." He signed for more of them to come over and started talking to us about them, but it was obvious from their faces that they had never seen this man before.  Fiinally they just drove away. Then he looked at me a said "I know how to lance" and started demonstrating lancing techniques.  I couldn´t help but laugh. 

Tuesday was the 29th of April.  Here in Argentina they eat ñoquis every 29th.  That day, we passed by a less active member's house.  His wife said she was busy making ñoquis but we offered to pass by and help.  (ñoquis are pasta made from potatoes)  SO she taught us how to make them and she cooked us some and it was SOOOO YUMMMYYYY.  When i get home I'm making ñoquis every day of my life!  Afterwards we shared a message with both of them. She accepts us and loves to talk to us but is happy in her church and doesn't want to change. 

Wednesday We had zone meeting wich was really good  We put goals as districts of how many baptisms and confirmations for the months and church attendance for sunday.  We all got back together and when the zone leaders asked for our goal our district leader said 6-6-6.  Everyone gasped and busted out laughing.  I also got the card from Mom with animal stickers.  When we saw the fox sticker, me and a sister from Brazil started to sing "what does the fox say?" and we laughed a lot about that too :)

Thursday morning, my companion said i was talking in my sleep, but the best part was that it was in SPANISH!!! That´s been one of my goals in my mission.  Thursday we were looking for less active members. We passed by a house and found the son of a less-active and started talking to him.  He didn't know his dad was a member but knew that his grandpa was President of something in the church in Chile (turns out it was Mission President in Chile and Italy)  SO we started talking to him then I realized he was wearing FOX FEET SLIPPERS!  I fought the impulse to sing "What does the fox say" another time.

Friday we had lunch with President Ayre and the AP´s it was fun :)  (APs are the Assistants to the President - missionaries serving in leadership capacity under the direction of the Mission President)  We had bruchettes, which are shish kabobs. It was super yummy!  And president gave us 2 references that we are going to contact with him this week.

Gerardo and Joaquin

Saturday morning during personal study a car parked outsie our building and was blasting the song "Uptown Girl" I started laughing and then tried to refocus myself on my studies.  Saturday night Gerardo had his baptismal interview and passed!  Our district leader gave us white chocolate oreo chocolate to congradulate us.  It was yummy and almost like cookies n cream chocolate.

Sunday we had the baptism of Gerardo.  We had to go early to fill up the font but it was a bit dirty and the faucet had been dripping, so we drained it, cleaned it, and filled it back up.  Joaquin Cabrera, a priest in the ward who is preparing for his mission, baptised him.  It went really well :)

Y ahora es lunes, la dia de descanso para los misioneros, y estoy disfrutandolo escriebiendoles.  Les amo y les extraño!  (And now it is Monday, the day of rest for missionaries, and I am enjoying writing to you.  I love you all and miss you all!)

Hermana Allison Scarlett