Small World

First off we have a photo with Brother Kristeche.  He is over all of the communications for the area.  He is a really good man and wonderful to work with.  Forty-one years ago I was a Zone Leader in Mendoza, Argentina and his dad was the Stake Mission President.  We worked with him a lot to move the missionary work forward.  We have had a good time talking about Mendoza and what has taken place.  After I left his father continued to hold many important positions in the Church including Stake Patriarch.  I would guess that my friend, Nick Mazanis, will agree that he looks just like his dad.  He has a brother that teaches in the MTC in Buenos Aires.  Small world.

Next we have Sister Hall.  This was taken as she left for home.  She has been in the apartment by our house since we arrived.  She has been a Sister Training Leader which are words for Zone Leader for the sisters.  We see them several times a week and work with them quite a bit.  She was a great missionary and a great example for us.  What makes our relationship more special is the fact that her dad grew up and wrestled for Delta and her grandpa lived in Mom and Dad’s ward.  He was friends with my dad.  We have had a lot of good chats about dragging main in Delta and going to the res.  Another interesting fact is that her step grandfather is Gary Player.  Yes, that Gary Player.  So I guess it is even a smaller world.

This week was change week.  As I have explained in the past, the new missionaries come in on Tuesday and receive training until Wednesday afternoon when they leave with their new companions.  Just as they leave on Wednesday the missionaries going home arrive at the mission home, go to the Temple and have a good dinner at the mission home.  Oh Thursday, they fly home.  We spend a lot of time shuffling missionaries from the airport and bus station. 

We are also told to be positive in the blog so I am going to make this as positive as possible.  Last Monday we moved a set of Elders to a new house.  It was raining while we did it but it still went pretty well.  We needed to install a water heater on the wall.  The one that I brought did not fit the brackets, so I went back to the mission office and got one that did.  Things went well until Wednesday when the water heater fell off the wall and broke the toilet.  Ugh!  I spent two more days working with our handyman, Ariel, to get a new water heater and toilet.  It seems that sizes of things are quite different so it took quite a bit of time to get the right size for everything.  Everyone knows that plumbing jobs are measure by trips to the store.  Three is the most common number.  One to buy the stuff you need, one to buy the stuff you really needed and one to buy the stuff to replace the stuff you broke.  Well I think this was a seven trip job.  On top of this we found out that part of the lights don’t work in the house.  We are still working on this. 

It is quite a job to keep everything going.  Right now we have two more houses that are moving and another one looking for a house.  We also have a water heater that broke in Melo which is a four hour drive from here.  Keeping the missionaries safe and cared for in their houses is proving to be quite a job.

In the midst of our running around we did go to a Family Home Evening with the sister missionaries and a new convert Raquel.  We saw the plan of salvation video and had a treat, of course.  Raquel has such a wonderful testimony and is so happy.  The sister missionaries, Sister Suarez and Sister Mejia are so good to work with.  We really enjoy our time with the missionaries.  We spent yesterday watching General Conference at the mission home and are planning to watch the rest today.  Our sessions start at 1:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. so we kind of have a free morning. 

The bad news is that the other night Renee slipped and fell on some wet grass.  She was not hurt but her iPhone fell out and we accidentally ran over it.  We are looking for the Apple repair shop this week.  We hope we can get it fixed.  We continue to have some great adventures and enjoy our hectic days and nights.  We are so grateful for the Gospel and what it brings into our lives.  

We love you all,

Gordon and Renee