Hey guys, it was great to talk to you all for Christmas. And it was even better to get to hear from you all again today. This week was pretty cool. We've been working really hard and having some success. We found a new family Monday night and we set another appointment with them for tonight. Literally within two blocks of their house, two members came up to us on a motorcycle asking if they could accompany us to a lesson this week. I guess you can call that a sign.
I don't know if I've actually mentioned the whole motorcycle-as-a-family-vehicle thing, have I? It is not uncommon to see a family consisting of two adults and two kids riding together on the same bike. Actually, it's not even limited to "motos." Sometimes the dad pedals a bicycle and the mom steers and supports a kid on her lap. Sometimes, they even combine the two, and the bicyclist holds onto the back of the motorcycle to keep up. I have to say that the funniest is when to guys my age share the same pedal bike. I don't care how Argentine I become, I will never do that.
The other day we went by Sister Nuñez' house to see if we could teach her grandson sometime this week. Sister Nuñez is Super-Mormon. She's about to turn 90 years old, but she still tries to give us references and help us to come in our teaching assignments. One time we went to visit one of her friends who is 85 years old, and the poor woman didn't want to talk to us and started making excuses. Sister Nuñez said "I'm five years older than you are and I'm still up and about
walking." It was pretty funny because there really isn't anything you can say to a woman like that.
Anyway, we went by her house to talk about her grandson, and she was about to go out and pick the ripe mangoes from this gigantic mango tree in her front yard. Needless to say, Elder Callaghan and I climbed the tree in no time and gathered up the fruit, which this poor sister promptly put in a bag and gave to us. So much for service.
Interesting fact--did you know that it's actually somewhat common to be allergic to mangoes? Apparently for some people, mango trees are like giant poison ivy plants. There are even people who can get sick from breathing the pollen or eating the fruit. Yeah, I found that out yesterday, when everyone kept asking me why my entire body was red with a rash. Finally someone said "You elders didn't go and climb a mango tree did you?" Yeah. I love my life.
The worst part was that we had a teaching appointment yesterday with the mission president's wife, who happens to be in charge of the health for all of the missionaries. She tried to make me go to the hospital to get the rash looked at. For some reason she wouldn't believe that I had painted my face red. Anyway, when we finally found out about the whole mango thing she let me off the hook and told me to wait until Saturday. What a disaster. Oh well.
We had Christmas Dinner with president and his family and the assistants. Sister del Castillo is an amazing cook. And they gave us all ties, which was nice of them. Actually it was Christmas Eve, which is when Argentines have their big family gatherings. On Christmas day I just talked on the phone and then we went out to go work in the evening. It was pretty low-key, which I
liked.
I don't know if I've actually mentioned the whole motorcycle-as-a-family-vehicle thing, have I? It is not uncommon to see a family consisting of two adults and two kids riding together on the same bike. Actually, it's not even limited to "motos." Sometimes the dad pedals a bicycle and the mom steers and supports a kid on her lap. Sometimes, they even combine the two, and the bicyclist holds onto the back of the motorcycle to keep up. I have to say that the funniest is when to guys my age share the same pedal bike. I don't care how Argentine I become, I will never do that.
The other day we went by Sister Nuñez' house to see if we could teach her grandson sometime this week. Sister Nuñez is Super-Mormon. She's about to turn 90 years old, but she still tries to give us references and help us to come in our teaching assignments. One time we went to visit one of her friends who is 85 years old, and the poor woman didn't want to talk to us and started making excuses. Sister Nuñez said "I'm five years older than you are and I'm still up and about
walking." It was pretty funny because there really isn't anything you can say to a woman like that.
Anyway, we went by her house to talk about her grandson, and she was about to go out and pick the ripe mangoes from this gigantic mango tree in her front yard. Needless to say, Elder Callaghan and I climbed the tree in no time and gathered up the fruit, which this poor sister promptly put in a bag and gave to us. So much for service.
Interesting fact--did you know that it's actually somewhat common to be allergic to mangoes? Apparently for some people, mango trees are like giant poison ivy plants. There are even people who can get sick from breathing the pollen or eating the fruit. Yeah, I found that out yesterday, when everyone kept asking me why my entire body was red with a rash. Finally someone said "You elders didn't go and climb a mango tree did you?" Yeah. I love my life.
The worst part was that we had a teaching appointment yesterday with the mission president's wife, who happens to be in charge of the health for all of the missionaries. She tried to make me go to the hospital to get the rash looked at. For some reason she wouldn't believe that I had painted my face red. Anyway, when we finally found out about the whole mango thing she let me off the hook and told me to wait until Saturday. What a disaster. Oh well.
We had Christmas Dinner with president and his family and the assistants. Sister del Castillo is an amazing cook. And they gave us all ties, which was nice of them. Actually it was Christmas Eve, which is when Argentines have their big family gatherings. On Christmas day I just talked on the phone and then we went out to go work in the evening. It was pretty low-key, which I
liked.
