Felices Fiestas!

 

Primary kids singing at Ensanche Christmas party

Once again time is passing faster than we can keep up.  We can't believe two more weeks have passed.  So much for our goal to send an update every week.  Not a lot has been happening because of Christmas and the New Year holiday coming up.  Most people have family that have come to visit and it's hard to meet with them.  It's more important that they spend time with family instead of us!  

We were fortunate to talk with our family this past week over Christmas.  They are all doing great!  Eric and Ashley are enjoying being parents and little Lyla is really growing.  It's fun to see her almost every week on a video call.  She is beginning to smile and make fun little cooing noises.  We love being grandparents and can't wait until August to see her again.  Jacob and And are expecting a baby boy in May.  We are very excited for them and to have another grandbaby in the family.  Luke is busy with school, work and running.  He has one more semester at SLCC running track. After that he has some decisions to make.  Ethan is working hard in Peru.  We get to talk with him every Monday and enjoy hearing about his experiences and the wonderful people he meets and those he is teaching.  We are so proud of him!

Christmas was quite different for us here in Ibarreta.  The Albornoz family invited us to Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) dinner.  They are awesome and always very kind to us.  Christmas eve is the big event here, not Christmas morning.  Most families gather for a big dinner around 9 or 10 at night and then party all night long.  Here in Ibarreta it had rained most of the morning and so it was a quiet night.  With the rain comes lots and lots of mud.  It really is almost impossible to go anywhere with the rain and mud because there are only 3 streets with asphalt, all the rest are dirt and become impassible when it rains.  We still made it to the Albornoz's house in the mud.  At midnight lots of the neighbors shot off fireworks.  Nothing like what we would see in Hacienda Heights during New Years or 4th of July!  But it is fun to see them celebrate.  

Church on Christmas morning was very lightly attended because of the rain/mud.  I think we had 12 people total, and 6 of those were missionaries.  It's an intimate experience except that everyone still sat near the middle or back of the chapel.  We have never been a front-of-chapel family but since we've been here we try to sit near the front in hopes of encouraging others to do the same.

The group in Ensanche Norte had been trying for two weeks to have their Christmas dinner activity.  The first date got rained out and the second was almost canceled because the church building was robbed, not the building where the group meets but the building in Ibarreta where the branch meets.  However, all the chicken for the party in Ensanche was taken from the church when it was robbed.  Who breaks into a church and steals chicken from the freezer?  It's really quite sad.  However, the members in Ensanche didn't let that stop them.  They went forward with their party and improvised by cooking up chorizo and had choripan (chorizo sausage on bread).  A few also brought some salads and drinks.  We had a fun time with them.  

Everyone at the Ensanche Norte Christmas party

Brian talking with the Mansilla family

Martha putting up decorations with Hermana Casili

For about two weeks Martha had been teaching the primary children some Christmas hymns to sing at the party.  They did a great job!  It's fun to see how things all turn out even despite adversity and struggles.  It's all in our attitude and how we approach these challenges.  The members in Ensanche were not bitter or angry, they were happy to have their party no matter what type of food they had.  

On Saturday we had an eventful trip to Formosa.  The Albornoz family asked if we could go to Formosa to pick up their son and his family who were traveling by bus all the way from La Plata (just south of Buenos Aires).  It's about a 20 hour bus trip.  Of course, we were all too happy to assist them. Anything to help bring families together at Christmas. The excitement happened about 20 minutes after we left Ibarreta.  We noticed some smoke and cars slowing down up ahead of us.  As we approached we saw a car on fire.  One of the passengers flagged us down frantically asking for a fire extinguisher.  Every car here in Argentina is supposed to have one.  It took a couple of minutes but we found ours and he took it to try and put out the fire.  The entire bottom of the car was already in flames. The extinguisher was not going to make a difference.  Fortunately, everyone was safe.

The rest of the family was scrambling to gather some of their belongings that they tossed out of the car once the fire started.  There were also two young kids there were very scared.  Martha jumped out of our truck and headed toward the woman that was with the two kids.  She didn't know whether to help the woman collecting their belongings or grab the kids. Martha bent down and called the kids to her.  The little girl ran right into her arms and clung on tightly. They were so scared.  It was truly a blessing to be in the right place at this time.  We couldn't do much but we could provide some immediate comfort during their harrowing experience.  

Perhaps a small mercy but that morning before we left I decided to grab two little candies that were on our dining room table.  I had the thought that the Albornoz's little granddaughter might like a treat after her long bus trip.  However, once those two little children from the fire got into our truck for safety and to get out of the heat I saw those candies and gave them each a candy.  Nothing big but perhaps a little treat to help them feel a little bit better.  We are so grateful everyone was safe!

We also went back to Bartolome de las Casas, another group that we had been working with when we first arrived but we've stop going out there.  There are only about 7 members that meet on Sunday.  One of them is the group leader and he's in charge of doing the sacrament for everyone.  We went back for a Christmas lunch with them.  The other senior couple made some pizza and we brought drinks and dessert. It was fun to see them again.  This is the group where all the neighbor children come running to the church building when we drive up. On this day there were only about 10 of them.  Other times we had 15 or 20 kids show up. 

Our tiny decoration for Bartolome

Elder Manner (from Idaho) enjoying his popsicle.

Elder Villa (from Buenos Aires) with Ernesto.  He's been a member of the church for many years.  He sang Silent Night for us at the party. 

Los chicos de Bartolome.  You can't tell but this little girl was eating her popsicle upside down.  They tried to show her how to hold the stick but she kept flipping it upside down. 

Well, that's about all the details to share with you from the past two weeks.  We'll try to be better with more frequent updates, but no promises!  

Thank you all for your friendship and love.  We appreciate all we've learned from everyone one of you and the experience we have had to build relationships with such great people.  You are all loved and missed.  May God bless you and your families this new year and that you will receive every righteous blessing you desire.