Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas in Argentina is quite different than what we are accustomed to. We had to look hard to find evidence of Feliz Navidad in the small villages around us. We found an ice cream store that had this decoration.

 

And a home in Federal that remembered Santa Claus ...well, sort of.

This was found at the edge of town in Feliciano.

We were happy to find Christmas decorations that prior missionaries had left here. Visitors commented on the holiday touch. It appears that putting up Christmas decorations in your home is an anomaly.

 

 

Our branch in Feliciano held a Christmas party this week, but we were unable to attend. The sisters here are customarily behind all the celebrations. Their philosophy is, “if you feed them, they will come”. Many hours were spent preparing this gift for each member of the branch…

 

…and preparing a giant Birthday cake for the Savior. The staunch members of the church appear to have genuine love and appreciation for their Elder Brother who brings such joy to their lives.

We have been practicing a Christmas duet on the piano.

 

Music has been a great way to bring the Spirit into our home.

Merry Christmas! Weather is hot and humid, but all is well in El Quebracho, Argentina.

Sewing class update:

Vanesa, the gal from Los Perales (Remember the one with many sisters who want a purse from her for Christmas?), has apparently found a store that will sell her bags. Cool! I gave her a copy of her own pattern and she is running with it. I'm also helping her finish a knit shirt that she's trying to sew. The edging is always the hardest part so I went on line and plan to show her step by step.

Veronica, the gal who cut out her dress incorrectly, is making a blouse for her daughter out of the dress pieces. So clever! She is using one of the sleeves for the back, the front pieces as they are and instead of a raglan sleeve, she is making straps over the shoulders. I'll show you a picture when she's finished. I am amazed at how clever they are. Waste not--want not.

Carina is making aprons, but wasn't able to attend class this week.

Natalia, Yuca's wife who only lives out here at the ranch during the summer, is making a quilt out of jeans. She found what she wants on Pinterest so I'm helping her with the pattern. She has sewn before and is apparently an amazing seamstress.

Victoria is Natalia's 12 year old daughter. She has never sewn before so I'm teaching her the Marla Bryant way. Some of my family members and I took a sewing class from her a few years ago. Marla was very helpful with knowing how to teach beginners and/or people with different levels of skill. Victoria is going to make a pillow case.

The other seamstresses have yet to make it to class. We'll see how that goes since more rain is predicted this week.

Una Adventura:

Blessings are on our right hand and our on our left and we’re probably not recognizing even half of them. Today is Tuesday, December 13^th. It’s a little early to write in the blog so I’m writing early and will post this message on Sunday as usual, but I wanted to write some of the amazing things that have happened while it’s fresh on my mind.

It started yesterday when we were painting a fence and the day was warm. We decided that we would start earlier from now on to avoid some of the warm, humid weather. So, this morning we arose earlier than normal, read, and prepared for the day. We started painting at 6:30 AM, one hour earlier than usual. The morning was beautiful with birds singing, not too hot, and with a slight breeze. Gregg and I both commented on how painting gates is not the chore we thought it would be.

  Before

 After

There was only a 40% chance of rain at noon so we thought we’d have our sewing class this morning and if we missed rain altogether, we could potentially have the second class this afternoon. Summer will not be too long and boring we concluded.

After about a half hour of painting, we heard thunder in the distance. Still we thought it would be noon before it rained so we continued. Only minutes after that discussion, we had a sudden feeling to pack up our supplies and head home. We’d only painted one side of one gate but even though the paint is oil based, we like it to dry thoroughly before a rain. So, we cleaned up and headed back home. It only took 3-4 minutes to walk home, but the very moment we reached the covered patio, rain dropped like it had been waiting for us to reach cover. It was immediately rain forest heavy.

Okay, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we had gotten wet, but the story doesn’t end there. Last week when it rained hard, we noticed that the water level by the back door was dangerously high and the previous missionaries said that rain can and does occasionally build up and move across the patio and into the house. We had attempted to insulate the door but we knew it was more to keep bugs and critters out than water. 

So, last week out of the blue, we remembered the time we were living in Idaho Falls when the Teton Dam broke. Sand bags were used to control much of the water. But that happened in 1976 so why did that thought pop into our mind now? However, we heeded the nudge we had and started scavenging around to see what we could do.

There is a pile of sand near the car wash that isn’t being used so with some strong bags, we figured  we could fortify ourselves against a flood. We asked the clerk at the hardware store that we use all the time in Federal about getting sand bags thinking that there is probably no way of finding something strong enough for weight in Argentina. He said that he didn’t have any sand bags. We reiterated that we had sand and only needed bags. Oh, yes! He had plenty of those."How many do you want?"  was his reply (except in Spanish of course). 

Cool! They were strong and even free. We got the bags and were in the process of drying and cleaning out the sand on the back porch this morning when rain came unexpectedly. We had them ready to go last night except for the last bag because some of the sand was a little wet, and we were waiting for it to finish drying.

So, this morning when our paint job ended early, we decided to finish filling and sewing the sand bags. It was only about 10 minutes later when we placed the last bag by the patio screen door. Rain had already formed puddles and was nearing the top of the ledge. About 30 minutes after that, water was spilling over the top and being stopped by the sand bags. It wasn’t much, but again, it was understanding that we are being watched over and guided.  

It didn’t rain long. It is almost noon now and it is barely sprinkling, but our classes were cancelled. 

With the down time, we’ve had time to ponder the morning’s events. Other thoughts have surfaced on just how watched over we are. Take for example our trip to Los Perales last week. We stopped to get some paint supplies in Federal and for the life of us couldn’t get the back gate of the truck open. It was shut solid and not only could we not retrieve what we needed for the store but all of our needed supplies for teaching sewing, English, and piano were stuck inside. It was probably only 5-8 minutes of struggling when in desperation, we said an inconspicuous prayer. Not more than 2 minutes after that, a clerk from the store walked by and asked if he could help us. With a little oil that he retrieved from his store, the back end was open and we could carry on.

That was good news for us because we hoped to have time to swing by Concordia to buy an exercise bike and we would be cutting it close. Side note: you thought we had ordered a bike from Walmart to be delivered to Yuca’s mom’s home, didn’t you? Well, so did we, but come to find out Walmart wasn’t serious about delivery way out here so our bank is disputing the charge for us since our bike is sitting in a store somewhere in Buenos Aires. 

In the meantime, we need aerobic exercise. Gregg in particular is going stir crazy since this is the first time in decades that he hasn’t been able to run or bike regularly. So, we paid over $400 for a bike that cost us $136 in Nauvoo and would have been $180 on line from Walmart. But, … I’ve digressed….back to the story (just be happy you don’t live in a socialist society).

We somehow got all the way to Condordia, bought the bike, and got back to Los Perales just 10 minutes late and classes there went fine. It was on our way home that again, we had guardian angels. I haven’t mentioned this before, but we took a mother, Mariela, and her two kids with us to Federal where they spent the afternoon while we did our shenanigans. We picked them up on the way back and were rushing the last 40 minutes back to the ranch before the sun set and driving would be more dangerous, when we hit another delay. The family still needed to stop for groceries. Yikes! How would we ever make it now; but not to worry, other than the need for daylight, we didn’t have anything else pressing.

Well, up the road about 5 miles from the ranch it was raining hard at that time. As we waited in Federal at the grocery store, the sky had opened on the roads near El Quebracho. Little did we know the dangerous situation ahead of us. We never saw the rain. It came and went before we even knew what had happened but it left the dirt road as slick as St Mary’s glacier. Had we not stopped for Mariela to get her family food, we would have been in the middle of it. However, even without the danger of poor visibility that comes with down pores here, the road was worse than we’ve ever experienced. We had slowed down quite a bit before we hit the mud, but Gregg immediately felt the truck go out of control. At one point, he even got out of the truck to see if the tires had loosened and were coming off or something crazy. We were completely off the road several times, sliding sideways a time or two, and even did a 360. One time, we were trudging along quite out of control when Gregg sensed he should back up. As he did, the truck a righted itself without cause and we avoided sliding off the road in a place where we would have probably needed a ranch tractor to get us out.

(Later this week we found the problem. The air filter had been filled with mud and the truck virtually had no power meaning that the four-wheel was not engaged either.)

Needless to say, we got through the bad three or four miles in the road and even managed to get Mariela and her children home without further incident shortly after the sun set. Our lives were never really in danger, but our hearts were full of gratitude for our protection that evening as we contemplated the events of the day.

I must admit that this all came at a time when I needed to be reminded that we are loved and watched over. I was missing family something terrible with the holidays so close, fighting fleas probably didn’t help, and then wondering if after all, we had been forgotten since we haven’t yet received all our stuff from the states. Haven't we turned our lives upside down once again to serve a mission? Can't those over us find a way to get us our stuff? Those were the thoughts I was fighting.

We are certainly getting by just fine, and I was just feeling sorry for myself.

Now I can say with deep conviction from within, I know that God lives. I know that He loves us and is very aware of us even in our petty despair. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His and we are in His service. He will not abandon us, but will strengthen us without always removing the obstacles. We are asked to do hard things sometimes. Life isn’t supposed to be easy, but He will support us and comfort us when we’re struggling even if it is in small blessings like the rain doesn’t dump until after you are under cover.

So, Merry Christmas to us and to all of you as well. Our sacrifices seem insignificant compared to the matchless gift that we will celebrate in a week.