July 15, 2014
Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes! Having 40 e-mails today made my week! You all are the best and I sure do love you all! Well this week has been a long one but interesting.
Tuesday all was normal. Wednesday the Branch President asked us to do a favor and stay with his wife while he went to work. We said of course - almost nobody asks us to help so we jumped right on it. His wife has schizophrenia; she is a super sweet, super faithful and strong member of the church and has a strong testimony. I've learned that people that have this illness are born with it but it doesn't come out until later in your life. She had a nervous attack when she turned 23 and that is when it showed up for her. She had had some bad dreams Tuesday night and when she woke up she was still seeing things and was afraid to be alone. So the Bishop asked us to come stay with her. She was perfectly fine - just needed someone to bring the Spirit to calm her down and make her feel safe. That's where we came in. When we got there she was afraid but as we sat with her, talked and looked at her photos we could see how the Spirit we brought to the house helped her. It was something quietly incredible that really impacted me. It was amazing to be able to help someone in that simple, quiet way.
Right after that we went to a member´s house to watch the semifinals world cup game: Argentina vs Holland/Netherlands (don´t remember which one it is in Inglish) and you know what?!? WE WON! It was crazy but awesome and so fun! The first half nobody had made a point so I pulled out my Argentina Jersey and I love Argentina earrings, decked myself out, and said to the family "Now, we are going to win!" They LOVED IT! And then WE WON! WHOOOOO! VAMOS ARGENTINA!
Thursday we planned in the morning then went out to work for a little bit then headed back in because we had to travel to San Fernando, 3 hours away, to do some paperwork the next day so Hermana Weitl could receive her Argentine ID.
SO
Friday we were in San Fernando ALL DAY! But it was fun and it was amazing to see how the Lord provide a way for us to share the Gospel even when we were away from our area. That morning the missionaries that had to do the paperwork all got together and took the train to the immigrations office in Retiro. On the way, someone walked up to one of the elders and asked him how he and his girlfriend could be sealed together forever in the temple. Elder DaSilva explained it all then the man told Elder DaSilva that his girlfriend is an inactive member and she wants to get sealed in the temple; but they are living together and aren't married. IT was cool. Then another guy with a cool mustache and a bowler hat kept looking at us but didn't really say anything. Finally, he walked up to Edler Sanders and asked in perfect Inglish "DO you guys have one of your books? I´ve always wanted to read it." Elder Sanders only has 12 weeks in the mission, same as Hermana Weitl, and they both were wide-eyed and were like "YEAH! Hey Who has a Book of Mormon?!?" SO all the missionaries start rummaging in their backpacks and finally someone whips one out almost shouting "HERE!" and gave him the book. It was pretty funny, but Elder Sander and Hermana Weitl had a pretty good chat with him on the train.
SO we get there and start the tramite process and in walks this big farmer-looking guy with a long-sleeved harley davidson t-shirt with jean overalls, a camo ball cap, and big brown work boots. I looked at Hermana Weitl and said "how much do you wanna bet he´s from the USA?" She chuckled. We hadn't seen anyone like that in a LONG TIME! SO she decided to talk with him and had a good chat. We started talking about what we were gonna do for lunch and the ride back when he asked us how much the exchange rate was here, so we told him. Then he reaches in his pocket and whips out a HUGE WAD OF AMERICAN CASH! We both kinda go into shock because we hadn't seen that much american cash in a while, and you don't just WHIP OUT AMERICAN CASH IN ARGENTINA! Then he tried to give us 2 twenty dollar bills. That is a LOT of pesos! 400 pesos if you change it in the streets. We couldn't accept it as nice as it was. Then Hermana Weitl got the papers she needed and we went to see if the Elders were almost done. Then 2 girls walked up to us and asked how long we had to wait - IN INGLISH! At this point we were just in total shock of all that had happened. Then we started talking about why we were here and talked about the with them church. It was really cool. They were from Mexico, had studied in Washington DC and were finishing their studies in Bueno Aires. Finally, we went home and got back late.
Saturday was a normal day.
Sunday we had to go home right after church because the World Cup finals were that day. We stayed in all day. And we lost to germany ;( But it´s okay - we at least made it farther than Mexico (Steven!) and Brasil (Logan!) VAMOS ARGENTINA! (THAT´S HOW WE DO IT ALEC! WHOOOOO!) Yesterday we visited a bunch of members to say goodbye in case one of us left during transfers. Hermana Weitl left. I´m gonna miss the boogers out of that girl! But it´s okay :) I will see her every now and then and we have plans to have adventures together after the mission. It´s just hard to see your first daughter go off on her own.... wow....... I sound like my mom.......
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