Carnival, Ping-pong and Light

It's Carnival season in Argentina and we are living in the provincial capital of Carnival: Ibarreta!  You Americanos know it as Mardi Gras.  Here in our little part of Argentina they celebrated two weeks ago but each pueblito has their celebration on different weekends.  This past weekend it was one of the areas we have been working, Estanislao del Campo.  There are a few more celebrations all leading up to Ash Wednesday.  We didn't join any of the festivities. We were told by a few members that it's not a very uplifting event.  Lots of people drinking, dancing, eating and often times half naked.  It's an excuse to party in excess and let loose on your inhibitions.  Not really a place for missionaries.  

On a lighter note, we have been trying to be more friendly with the missionaries here in Ibarreta.  There are two companionships of elders.  Our mission leaders want the senior couples to be a positive and supportive influence on the young missionaries, and when necessary lovingly correct and teach. 

Last p-day (preparation day) we drove an hour to pick up the hermanas (sister missionaries) that are part of this missionary district. This let them spend the day with the other missionaries and enjoy being all together.  Martha decided we needed to have a little competition so she created a ping-pong tournament. The chalkboard picture has the tournament bracket. She made it to the final by beating me!  But during our match she got a little excited and cracked the ping-pong ball.  We finished our game but the elders were not able to complete their game with the damaged ball.  By the way, have you ever tried to find a ping-pong ball in Ibarreta?  It's turning out to be impossible. We searched several stores and cannot find a single ping-pong ball. Guess we have to wait until a trip to the big city!

At the end of p-day with the missionaries we took the hermanas to visit hermana Casili in Ensanche Norte (la colonia).  She had been asking us when sister missionaries were going to come to the colonia.  She had a great visit with them and in talking she asked them for some advice about a friend that was being taught by the missionaries and was going to be baptized but all of the sudden she stopped the lessons with the missionaries and would not answer their messages.  We suggested that they should go with the sister and visit this friend, Cintia. They had a great visit and Cintia decided to continue with her decision to be baptized. 

 On Saturday Cintia was baptized!  It was an awesome baptism.  In the spirit of working together with the missionaries and helping to teach and train them we "guided" them in the planning of the baptism.  Since we have been here the baptismal services have not been very positive or spiritual.  For some reason the missionaries, and the members, are not accustomed to planning good baptismal services.  We invited people to speak, selected hymns, and brought refreshments.  We also encouraged the missionaries to share a gospel message or video during the service.  It was perfect!  Everything turned out great and we had a LOT of people. 

We filled the truck up twice to get all the people from Ensanche Norte to the church building in Ibarreta. 

We had almost 50 people in attendance at the baptism

This is Cintia with some of her new member friends, the Mansilla family.

Us with Elder Ibarra at the baptism. His wife is in the background.  We have been serving with them for the past 6+ months.  They go home at the end of March to Tucuman, Arg. 

As we mentioned we've been making more effort to work with the missionaries and influence them for good (most of the time!).  We started having them over for lunch every week.  It's a nice time for them to relax and let loose for an hour or so.  It's like having our boys with us. One of the elders has been trying to get Martha to try mate.  As you may know, mate is a HUGE part of Argentinian culture.  Everyone drinks mate and most of the missionaries do as well.  But they are not supposed to drink it with members or others.  They are fine drinking it in their apartment.  Well, this week Elder Baldwin brought a specific mate yerba blend for Martha to try. He said it was very mild and good for beginners.  I've had mate at home a few times and Martha always says it looks and smells like hay from the field.  

You can see in the picture she actually tried it!  Mate is an herbal tea that you drink from a gourd of the mate plant and a metal straw called a bombilla.  You put the mate herb (yerba) into the gourd and then fix the straw just right so that it sits at the edge of the gourd.  Placement of the bombilla in the gourd is a very precise process.  Everyone will tell you the exact way to do it, and they all have their own idea of what is right.  Then you pour hot water into the gourd and drink it up.  What you don't see in the picture is Martha's reaction.  She did not like it!  I don't think she's going to try mate again but at least she gave it a shot.  

Another type of mate that is popular in this part of northern Argentina and in Paraguay is Terere.  It's basically mate but they use a more mild herb and sometimes add fruit peels like oranges or apples and sometimes add mint or other types of flavorful leaves.  Then they use cold water instead of hot. Some people also use juice instead of water.  It is very popular here because it's so hot.  The cold drink is refreshing to them.  No one wants hot tea when it's 100 degrees outside, although that doesn't stop some people from drinking the hot drink on those crazy warm days.  

Sorry, ran out of pictures for this week but one more story to tell.  

Yesterday we had plans to attend a branch sacrament meeting in the pueblo where the sister missionaries are working.  It is called Pirane (accent on the "e".  I don't know how to type the accent on the computer).  We went to Pirane to meet the stake president and see how we can help out more in this area and in his stake.  It's an hour drive and church starts at 9:00am so we set an alarm for 6:00am. Almost immediately after the alarm sounds the power goes out.  Now, this is not an unusual occurrence here in Ibarreta, so we hit snooze and waited for the power to come back on. Well, it never did.  Normally it would not be a big issue but here when the power goes out you can't really take a shower.  Water is delivered inside the house through pipes from a large tank outside.  In order to get pressure there are two pumps that pump the water through the pipes.  No power means no water pressure, and no hot water. A rough start to the morning!  

In addition to the water situation it was very early and still quite dark outside.  Opening the windows did not help.  As we struggled around in the dark getting ready we did our best to get dressed and get on our way to Pirane.  It was fast and testimony meeting.  As I sat listening to the testimonies of the members I thought about our situation that morning trying to stumble around in the dark.  It made me think about light.  

I decided to share my testimony and explained how our morning started, in the dark. It's very difficult to maneuver in the dark and know where you are going.  I explained that many people in this world wander around in darkness, not knowing where to go or what to look to for light.  Fortunately, we have the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, to show us the way.  He is the Light to show us how to return to our heavenly home. Just like we were able to access a flashlight in the dark of our home, we can all easily access Jesus Christ by turning to him everyday in our lives.  He will lead us out of the darkness and into the light.  Our responsibility is to share His light with others.  

We know that His light can lead us out of darkness and onto the covenant path that leads us back to our Heavenly Father.  We invite you to look for ways you can bring His light to others as you go about doing good each and every day.  We love you all and are very grateful for your love and friendship and for the light you have shared with us and our family.

Love,

Brian & Martha