The Miracles Keep Coming

I forgot to post a photo showing our Mother's Day lunch here in Argentina on May 12th.

We found some crinkle cut potato chips, some hamburger patties (that were actually a bit disappointing) and some fruit.  If we have hamburgers in the future, I think I'll be making them from scratch.

We had our first mission interviews with President Allred this week.  Since we were self-reliance missionaries the first time around we didn't work under the mission president so this was a new experience.  As the mission president he travels around the mission and interviews all missionaries once every six weeks, on top of doing zone conferences every six weeks as well.

May 15th was Javier & Denisa's anniversary, 5 years together.  We had an appointment with them that night so we brought flowers and chocolate no-bake cookies.  Javier's dad was visiting and he is solid!  His comments showed that he is active, studies the gospel and his counsel to Javier is the same as ours.  Get active and Denisa will follow.  Good to have some back-up.  But even with his dad visiting, he still didn't make it to church on Sunday.  It was disappointing.

We bought a women's bike this week!  We've been looking around for some used bikes in good condition so we can go around on bikes during the day and get some exercise.  We found a women's bike we are happy with so that now sits in our garage.

My new used bike.  This is what everyone goes around riding.  We didn't want to buy anything too fancy since that would make it a target for thief and we are going to need to leave it behind when we go.  I think it is very classy looking.  Dave says it looks like a grandma bike.  Well, isn't that what I am??

We need to get a helmet and lock before I can start using it.  And Dave needs to have one as well.  Not sure how much we'll use bikes now that we are entering into the winter months but we'll be able to start using them as soon things start to warm up again.

I've branched out and starting taking various routes for my exercise this month and I started to notice that the sidewalks change from property to property.  The next door neighbor is doing an addition and laid some tiles on the sidewalk in front of their addition and this caused me to put two and two together and realize that home owners are responsible for their own sidewalks, not the city!  I've taken some photos so you can see how that works.

 Here you can see probably one of the most common sidewalks with the red and black stripe.  But you see how it changes in the middle because the homeowner there used a different type of cement work.  Here are a few other designs.

Below is one of the more fancy designs.  Of course these are all in good condition.  It is fairly common that the sidewalks have deteriorated and are no longer as nice.

We live close to a train tracks and the station is not to far away.  One day I walked down there as my exercise route.  I wanted to take some photos so we could show you a bit of our neighborhood.

I was surprised to see an orange tree as I walked down there.  It certainly isn't feeling real warm for oranges right now.  But we've also seen banana trees so it is warm enough for these fruit to grow.

 Venado Tuerto train station above.  Train mural below.

 Up by the street is a pretty pergola with flowering climbing plant and off to one side is this abandoned train car.  Would make some good sketches for you, Emily.  Very picturesque.

We had another phone conversation with Elder Burton from the area office about Kilgrumen and the pioneer trek program.  He sent us an email showing what activities and currently already booked for next season.  Take a look.  Not only do church groups come but community groups come and use the camp grounds as well.  And they believe more groups will reserve as we get closer to the summer months.

Scheduled groups for next trek season:

12 – 14 Oct 2019 Estaca Castelar – Trek (I think this is Landon's stake)

17 – 18 Oct  2019 Escuela No 1329 Cultura Inglesa

24 - 25 Oct 2019 Escuela Part. Aut. De los Padres

31 Oct – 1 Nov 2019 Instituto de Enseñanza Comercial de Arias

21 – 24 Jan 2020 Estaca Santa Rosa – Trek

10 – 13 Feb 2020 Estaca Buenos Aires Monte Grande – Trek

22 – 24 Feb 2020 Estaca Santa Fe Norte – Trek

4 – 6 April 2020 Estaca Marcos Paz – Trek

9-12 April 2020 Estaca Sarmiento – Trek  

Currently they are looking for a full-time couple to handle this, but the reality is those couples are hard to come by.  We are Plan B and we have made it clear that we would need help with the maintenance and clean-up.  So, we've been sent a lot of study material that we are working through in our spare time.  The problem is, we don't have much spare time!

This week we did our Family Home Evening presentation in Branch 3.  We are down to just one branch in Venado Tuerto, San Martin, that has not seen our presentation "Getting to Know the Rhoades"  They are scheduled for June 1st.

We continue to teach the Daily Dose English class. but this week will be our last time.  The sisters will take it over.  We've been asked to help with EnglishConnect which will be starting in the next few weeks.  EnglishConnect is the English class associated with BYU Pathway and is a preparatory English class to help members get their English up to the level they need it to be to participate in BYU Pathway and beyond.  We are not the teachers, but only assistants.  They have called two local members to be the instructors. They have 70 people signed up so they are offering two classes.  We are sure the actual numbers will end up less as interest is always high, but commitment and perseverance is always harder to come by. 

Our service project for the week was helping a new convert repair her kitchen.  She lives in pretty humble circumstances and the kitchen counter and cupboards are pretty beat up.  Here is a before photo.

First stage was Saturday.  Dave stabilized the counter and cupboard by attaching them to the wall.  Next week will be step two, applying the silicone at the back where the counter meets the wall.  We are also having new doors made.  For about $30 we can upgrade her kitchen.  Look for the after photos once it is done.

Saturday afternoon we visited a less active family in Branch 3.  The parents are great!  They have been sealed as a family in the temple and they both have church callings as counselors - she in the Primary, he in the Young Mens.  But they have been struggling with their 18 year old son and just 3 days ago he had stormed out of the house with his things.  The mother has felt like a failure because of the choices of her son.  Sound familiar ladies?  I certainly can relate to that as a mother.  Because of this she has not been coming to church.  I had a heart to heart talk with her about the error of her thinking.  I told her now more than ever she needs to be keeping her covenants as there is power in doing so that will reach out and influence her son.  They have five other kids that will be watching her that she needs to be thinking about as well.  We asked for the phone number of her son,  Briant, and told her we would reach out to him as Elder Rhoades has been assigned to strengthen the young men in the district.  We told her to pray a lot and we would pray as well.  Be patient and have faith.

Saturday night we had a late dinner appointment with Louisa and Bruno. They had invited us to eat pizza with them  Bruno has studied gastronomy and prides himself in his cooking ability.  The dinner apointment was for 9 pm.  That is a fairly early dinner appointment here.  9:30 or 10 is more common.  We were at their home until midnight.  Good thing we have more flexibility with our hours than the young missionaries do.

Louisa and Bruno

During our visit we learned that in the past when they were active, Bruno had been ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood.  At one point I very directly asked him the reason why he was in-active.  He was very direct in his answer to me and told me it was laziness pure and simple.  We invited him back and told him the Lord needed him.  This was after we had shown the video "The Hope of God's Light" which we could see had obviously touched him and based on impressions we had received as we prayed for them between visits.  We felt this man was needing to find some purpose in his life.  He didn't make any commitments or promises to us that night, but both he and his mother were at church the next day and they stayed for both hours.

The missionaries asked Louisa to offer one of the prayers at the baptism to be held later that day and both came to the baptism.  After the meeting they shared with us that during the afternoon they had google-mapped Manhattan for an LDS chapel because they want to attend church while they are vacationing in New York in August and September.  The bombshell, however, was when they told us they had set the goal to go to the temple and take out their endowments by the end of the year!  WOW!  The Lord had obviously been preparing their hearts and they were just waiting for an invitation to come back.

We just love to watch how the Lord uses us when we are willing to follow the promptings of His spirit and be bold.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:  President Steven Allred, Rosario Argentina mission, response to our letter telling him about the miracle of Louisa and Bruno. "Faith can wake up a soul that is sleeping".  Love that, so poetic!