12/16/13
Last
Sunday we went to the Guarachi family for a noche de hogar. We watched
some videos and played some games. After that we went and started the
anticuchos. Anticuchos are shishkabobs but with chicken and cowheart slow
roasted over coals. They are my 2 favorite meat. I remembered that we
used to put pineapple, onion, and pepper on shiskabobs so I bought some and it
turned out to be a hit. They said they aren’t ever going to make
anitchuchos again without pineapple.
We
booked it home after that because it is the season of giving here and what do
all of the Argentines do? Rob like crazy during the season to be jolly. That
and also all of the police are rioting, but don’t worry Ma, we are real safe.
Most of the people know who we are and don’t mess with us. So
anyways, we have a new rule that during the month of December we have to be
home at the latest 8.
On
Monday we went and had a zone activity with a water balloon fight. After
that we watched Tangled and I was literally laughing out loud, almost to the
point of snorting, even though it was all in Spanish and I didn’t understand a
good 50 percent of the words. After that we talked to a kid named David
who I met the first night I was in Argentina. His family is less active and
they don’t want to come back to church but he loves working out and sports so
we got along great. We started talking about church and he told us that he is
never going back again. I asked why and then he was telling us all of these
doubts that he had. My comp has every single scripture by memory and so he was
whipping them out like crazy and I piped in occasionally but mainly my comp.
We answered all of his questions and when we did, he told us "Do you
guys need help teaching? I could come help you some day this week."
Haha I was stoked at how well things went.
On
Tuesday we went early morning to David’s and talked to the parents and the
kids. The family loves music so they were playing the flute, the piano, the
saxophone, and the guitar. I had never thought that the flute was that cool but
the dad played for 30 minutes and I was just in awe the whole time. My
jaw was wide open the whole time and every time he would look over, start to
laugh, I would shut my mouth and then he would start to play again and my mouth
would slowly pry open again. We taught for the rest of the day and at
7:30 pm we had 2 members with us and they didn’t have bikes. I remember
Johnny telling me once that he had a companionship that they only had one bike
so one ran the whole day and the other biked, so I gave them my bike and they
doubled up and then my comp had his bike and I took off bookin it so that we
could squeeze in one more lesson. We got to the house and we clapped and a
grandpa and 2 little kids answered the door. We asked if Elsa (his wife)
was there and he said "No she isn’t here and I’m not sure when she is
going to be back." Good thing the kids were there because one of them told
us "No grandpa, grandma is in the kitchen." Haha sneaky Argentines
trying to hide from us. So he went and got her and she was actually real happy
to be talking with us. So we talked there for a little bit and then we went
home.
The
next day Elder Delgado asked me if I wanted to go running for morning exercise
so I said yes but my comp was too tired so he just sat in the park and watched
us run haha. It felt so dang good to run again.
The
next day we went and we taught some people and did some service and then we had
a noche de hogar with the familia Ormeno. We showed them a video and
talked and played some spoons and had some pizza and things worked out real good,
except my magic tricks. Those did not turn out real good.
The
next day we taught and looked for all of these people that were less active and
with super super crazy directions. After that we invited all of the teens in
the ward to a practice for the Christmas choir. Some kids showed up with some
of their non member friends and my comp hopped on them like a wolf on meat and
taught them everything that he possibly could squeezed into an hour and a half.
While at the church we helped with the ward cleaning. They had started to get ready
for the party and they started playing all of this great music like Hall and
Oats, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Eurythmics, and the Beatles so I just loved
cleaning. It was the fastest, least boring cleaning session I have ever done.
The
next day we went and had zone conference with the zone and that was dang good.
The president came and taught us some stuff, especially about Genealogy.
They were all so amazed at the programs there were and how some people had 3
generations sheets back. And I was pretty close to telling them that they
should take a look at my sister’s who has pretty much back to the beginning of
time.
The
next day we had church and some lessons. We were watching a movie at the
Guarachis house. And all of the sudden the skys were just black with clouds and
it started to rain and the wind was going crazy. We booked it home as fast as
we could with the wind just blowing in our face the whole time. And then when
we got home it started to lightning again so I thought that it was going to be
another tornado but it died down after a couple of hours.
This
morning I woke Delgado up again and we went running and I told him that we
could go looking for watermelon because we both love it. So we went
running and we went to a fruit stand and it was closed cause Argentines don’t
have set hours. I saw 2 grandmas and went
up to talk to them. At the beginning everything was great until they
asked us why we were in Argentina. When we said that we were missionaries,
they started going crazy. They pulled out the bible and started yelling things
out like "You have to be ready if you are going to preach..." and
"If you are preaching the word of god you have to know his
scriptures." Haha gosh dang it they heated up fast. So I just tried
being as professional as possible, being the older one there and having more
Spanish than the other missionary. And I said "Well, I am not
understanding too much so can I take your number and address and we can talk
another day?" And then we got the heck out of dodge.
When
we were running away from that we heard a deep rumbling around the corner.
I heard it I told the other Elder "That sounds like a dog
growling." And what do ya know, it was a huge black dog or (wolf should I
say) growling in the defensive position with its front down and its back legs
up in the air in the middle of the street facing straight towards us.
When I saw it I tried to keep calm and keep running normal--that was
until it started booking it towards us. Haha the idea came to my mind
"Maybe I can out run it." So I turned it on high speed and went for
it. Boy was I wrong. This morning jog just turned into a run for my
life. But I don’t have to beat the dog, just the other Elder right?
Haha but for real he was coming up quick and I just remembered my old
companion scaring away the dogs by saying "CUCHA!" So I figured that
I might as well give it a shot. I turned around when it was a good 5 feet
away and just did both hands in the air and the legs as spread apart as
possible pose and yelled "CUCHA!" And that pooch stopped dead in its
tracks and high tailed it the other way. Haha I do not know how the heck I did
it but it somehow worked out, woo! I get to see another day. We couldn’t
even run after that we were laughing so hard. I thought for sure I was a goner
when it was getting close.
Anyways,
the rest of the week was pretty calm... It was a good one. I hope
that you are all doing well. I love you all.
Love
Andy.
