Note about this post: Some of this might seem boring to you folks but I am not bothering to write in a journal like I normally would during a vacation so this is also for me to go back to.
So this is our fourth day but I was too tired to post yesterday. Our day started out by getting up at 6:30 (after falling asleep at about 3:30) and getting ready for church. Chad wanted to go to 3 different ones in the space of three hours so he could try to find people he knew before. The subway was not running until 8 so we caught a taxi to the train station and took the light rail first to an area called Zeballos. It took us till after 9 to get there and church had already started. We saw the bishop first and Chad talked to him and apparently all the members that Chad knew are not attending any longer. I thought it was wierd but it has been 10-11 years. Next we took a Remis (private taxi where the owner uses their own car) to Gutierrez and made it for most of their testimony meeting. Lots of people there recognized Chad and he had fun talking to them after the meeting. We made plans to meet with one of his favorite families-the Flores family the next day which is today. Next we went to Quilmes which is famous for its beer factory. The Quilmes beer brand also sponsors Boca futbol team. We caught the tail end of church there so we saw some people as they were leaving. Only a couple of people knew Chad but we talked to some of the missionaries there and it was great for me to speak in English for a couple of minutes because I have been a virtual mute for most of this trip. The neighborhood the church was in was very nice which was pretty abnormal from most of what I´ve seen since being down here. Afterwards we met with one family that was at Church that we some how missed seeing. There were very nice. 
They lived next door the a shrine for a crazy saint called Gaucho Gil. It is pretty funny. We forgot to take a picture but Chad has one from before. 
We drove around trying to see other people for awhile and then visited with the Napolitano family. Again we forgot to take a picture. They lived off a dirt road in what I thought was a very shady neighborhood and I was worried about having to use the bathroon there but I REALLY had to go. When we went inside the house was beautiful. Very cute. No problemo in the bathroom except there was no handle for the tiolet. I didn´t want to not flush but I couldn´t figure out what to do. Finally I just thought about normal toilet plumbing and found the little wire (in a hole in the wall just sticking out) that would be where a handle would attach in a normal toilet and just pulled on that. What´s the worst that could happen? Just flooding their bathroom and being totally mortified. No worries it worked! I am a plumbing genius! I totally fell asleep sitting up in my chair at the kitchen table I was so tired. Then Chad asked me a question and since I don´t hear well anyway I just made him repeat it and played it off. Later I told Chad I was asleep. We saved our final visit of the night for Chad´s friend Mariana because we knew that could take awhile. It was a great visit. We talked for such a long time and she even tried to talk in English for me if she knew the words. It was so sweet because I longed to be able to talk to someone besides Chad. We also had some of the best empanadas delivered to us hot and fresh. Then they walked us to our bus stop and we caught my favorite bus home.
4 comments:
I think you have an empanada addiction. We may have to do an intervention.
That is so funny that you felt like a mute because that is how I felt in Panama and I had Michael and my sister-in-law who also couldn't speak Spanish. So glad to hear you are having fun. - Stephanie
The family above is the Ayala family. The mother, Zulema, has been baptized since I was on my mission. She couldn´t be baptized when I was here, because she and her husband weren´t married. They had been living together for over 15 years and had not been able to finalize their divorces from previous marriages.
Fabiana is the older daughter, and no, the little baby does not belong to her. It was a surprise baby for Zulema. I taught Fabiana the new member discussions when I was here, and I baptized Gustavo, the 21 year old guy in this picture (he was a little 10 year old when I baptized him. Fabiana didn´t want to earn her young women medallions back then, and while I was trying to convince her that it was important, one of the neighbors threw his wife against the wall just outside our window and was beating her. Another neighbor, wielding a shovel, broke it up. I had promised Fabiana that if she got her medalions, that she would make herself worthy of a righteous man who honored her efforts.
I was saddened to hear that she had married a man who was not a member three years ago, and she is divorcing him now because he was physically abusive. I told her on Sunday that maybe the Lord would still make good on that promise for her to find a good man. She is 24.
The Napolitanos always had a comfortable place. We missionaries would always go there when we needed to escape the rain and she would always have hot chocolate and fresh bread for us. Her house is made of chapa (corrugated metal) on the outside, so it looks pretty ghetto, but on the inside it has wood paneling, tile floors, and is nicely decorated. So it makes sense why Julie liked it. The parents in that family had been separated for years until a few months ago when their daughter had a motorcycle accident. That brought them back together. They have resolved their differences, and I tried to motivate them a little to overcome their struggles. The husband still isn´t a member, but he is a great guy.
Mariana and family have not attended church much at all since I left Argentina, but they were still very gracious. The even invited us to a traditional Argentine asado at their house this Saturday.
I do have an empanada addiction. An intervention would be okay but I hope someone brings some empanadas to help ease the pain.
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