Temples

September 26, 2024

Baptism of our friend Mahia

It’s been another two weeks as missionaries and we are moving along and getting accustomed to Argentina (for me its getting reacquainted with Argentina). We’ve learned to cook new food, how to spend the siesta, and most fun and important we are getting to know the members.

Last Tuesday was the baptism of Mahia, a young woman in the Ibarreta branch. We enjoy spending our time with the youth. They have energy, hope, and faith. We were able to participate in a few lessons teaching her about the gospel in her preparation to be baptized. Her dad and younger brother are members of the church but not her mom. There are three other children in the family, a young brother about 7, and two cousins that are sisters. These two cousins came to this family under very sad circumstances and one of the girls is almost entirely blind. Her name is Sophia. Sophia is a very special spirit. She is always so positive and happy. You can feel the spirit of Christ in her always. She likes to share her testimony. Whenever we visit she insists on greeting us and saying hello. Hopefully one day this family will have the opportunity to go to the temple and be sealed together as an eternal family.

We spent time this past week teaching about temples. It is not easy for people to get to the temple. The closest temple is in Asunción, Paraguay about 350 kilometers from here. That’s over 4 hours by car, which most people do not have so they take a bus which is a 6 hour trip, not accounting for the time it takes to cross the border. They say the border crossing alone can take hours because of the long wait and so many people. Many members only go once every year, if they are lucky. Because of this our efforts have been focused on bringing the blessings of the temple into their homes. And as President Nelson has taught we receive the blessings of the temple each day as we live and keep the covenants we have made inside the temple.

In our little group in Ensanche Norte we taught about the things we find inside the temple. Martha found this great video to help teach the children, it works great for the adults too! Here is the link https://youtu.be/Ons3IeExq0k?feature=shared y https://youtu.be/jHFIQm-XMh8?feature=shared

After the video we had the kids color a picture of the temple. You can see some of there art work below. We also taught the same lesson in Estanislao del Campo, but with the youth and adults. As part of the lesson we showed them a video teaching how to draw a temple, we figured they were too mature for coloring. Here is the video teach how to draw a temple. https://youtu.be/zLcEcP-DaEo?feature=shared

We also took coloring pages to our group of chicos in Bartolomé. The kids their enjoyed it just as much as the other groups. It kept them occupied for quite some time.

We were amazed at how much all three groups loved to draw and color! We almost had to snatch the crayons and colored pencils from their hands. They would have sat their for an hour or longer coloring. It is not something they do, or have, in their homes. It was a special treat.

Speaking of treats we made our first empanadas the other day. Nothing to write home about, although that is exactly what we are doing! They were good, not the traditional empanadas you’d find in Argentina. We customized it to our liking. Wish we had some taco seasoning or hot sauce or jalapeños to spice it up. Overall not bad for our first try. We’ll keep trying new flavors.