Word of the week: Fecha Bautismal (Baptismal date)

We started out this week with a bit of a handicap...Wednesday was the National Census in Argentina. Now, this day at first seemed like a great missionary opportunity because it is a national law that everybody MUST be in their homes until the census worker comes to their home and fills out the necessary information. Between 8am and 6pm, the census workers were out and about filling out information for every residence (here, there are lots of homes without address and/or mailboxes, so they go house-by-house, contacting everyone....), which would mean the perfect opportunity to knock doors and find people in their homes just ready to hear about the Gospel. Then, the assistants said we had to be in our apartments as well until the workers came around and counted us and that we weren't aloud to knock doors! There goes that idea! The stores were packed, every corner shop, Tuesday night as people were frantically buying food for the following day (Argentinians buy food for their meals everyday!...what a hassle!) Needless to say, Wednesday was a rough working day...but I am part of Argentine history...at least for the next ten years when they take the next census! Saturday was another historic day in Argentina: The Córdoba, Argentina temple was started! Twenty years after completing the first temple in Argentina in Buenos Aires, they finally broke ground for a second temple in the country! We got to watch the broadcast of the ceremony and hear Elder Neil Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak and dedicate the land to the Lord. It was a really wonderful experience. It is so true, in the United States (especially in Utah), we are richly blessed with temples so close! I knew we were blessed, but how wonderful it is to see the Lord bless the people of this country with another temple. Hopefully the church will continue to grow so they can build another even closer to Mendoza. Right now, the members in this area take a bus to Chile to go to the temple in Santiago. Right now, nobody is sure if they will continue to attend in Santiago or if they will be in the Córdoba temple district, but either way, everyone is excited to have another temple in their own country! Teaching this week was wonderful! We started teaching a woman named Eva this week. We taught her in the church building about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, set a baptismal date for the end of November and then she came to church on Sunday! We actually had 3 investigators in Sacrament Meeting (yay!!!!). Eva loved church and what we've been teaching her. We also are teaching Monica (and her son Santiago). Monica is a friend of a wonderful member here in the ward. She too has a baptismal date and we're hoping that she and her son can get baptized together. She went to church for the first time on Sunday and loved it as well. During the week, she told us that so far, she hasn't felt like she's received an answer. Hopefully attending church helped her feel the spirit and understand how the Lord speaks to her. I'm excited to keep teaching her. (she wants to use my English skills this week...even though she pretty much told me I don't speak well. Then again, someone else told me that they loved my accent.....I just can't win!) Right now, we have about 10 people with baptismal dates. We had a hard time tracking down a few of them this week, but we're starting a new week and hopefully they will reappear! Hna. Alvez and I are trying to work hard and we are seeing great blessings as a result. I've still got a lot of learning and refining yet to do, but it's wonderful to see the Lord magnifying my efforts (as weak as they may be some days) We saw lots of miracles this week! Even though we didn't have a great working day Wednesday (because of the census) and we were in the church watching the temple ceremony Saturday morning, our zone is continuing to improve and as a mission, we are seeing great success. The Lord truly put people in our path and strengthened us. I feel like my Spanish is getting better...line-upon-line...inch-by-inch. It's still a huge mountain to climb, but the Lord is blessing me so I can be an instrument in His hands. Hermana Alvez is wonderfully helpful (and patient) as I work through frustrations and stumble over words. Needless to say, I am EXHAUSTED when the end of the day rolls around. My shoes are breaking....yep....I've arrived! I'm not really new in the mission anymore because I've developed holes in my shoes...my clothes are in a constant state of grim because I can't figure out how to effectively wash my clothes by hand...in buckets....ha....thank goodness for washing machines in the United States! That's about it for the week. (side note: we went to the San Rafael natural museum this morning, saw some cool fossils and rocks and learned about where we can go to see hieroglyphics in the area...stay tuned in future weeks!) Thanks for the love and support! Sending warm weather your way and some yummy alfajores! Hermana Pelton