Week 067 - No Joke. Everyone Is Making Tarta-Frita

Dad, you’re so South American. Look at me, I’m always bragging every week about my southern stories. But I’ve only ever visited Santa Fe. But you’re setting foot in every other country down here. You’re right though, that no one likes Argentinians, especially the Chileans.


I will have to say, that I have a way better alfajor collection than you do. You have to save me the wrapper though, for reals I collect them. But looks like it was a fantastic trip.

So first off, Recreo had a Flea market fair. And people from all over the place came to sell stuff they made. Way cool. Actually it was just a ton of people from Parana. Which makes me think that the city of Parana is way cool, because all these Parana fellas were selling tons of cool stuff. I found this lady that makes personalized mates for really cheap; a ton with the logo of bands like Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, and some of my favorite Argentine bands like La Beriso and Las Pelotas. It’s great to be a missionary and go to one of these things because people see some white kid all dressed up buying mates and people get wild about it. Especially the radio. Which leads to my radio story. 

So I’m loving this fair right, and I wanted to check everything out, and there was this aisle of stickers that I wanted to check out. And the whole time we are here, there are these two wackos talking with microphones about what’s good and all. It turns out these two are in the same aisle as the stickers. My companion doesn’t really want to come look, and I’m way distracted by these stickers. Well, I finish checking out the stickers, right. And I take a nice 180 degree turn to find a microphone shoved in my face and a radio spokesman blabbering about who knows what. Now I’m stuck and I just figured out I’m on the Santa Fe radio. Cool. "Well, Senor Elder, what’s up?" – “You know, just checking out y´alls mates.” - "Aw yeah you tried mate?" – “Yeah, of course.” Everyone finds it funny to see a Yankee drinking a bit of mate. - "Well, do you like it?" – “Well, it doesn’t do well my stomach.” - "What, do you mean to say that it does good?" – “No, it doesn’t do good.” THAT’S WHEN I REALIZED I SCREWED UP. It was awesome because my companion was standing 20 feet away with unbelief in his face, that I pretty much said how lame mate is to a bunch of mate hooligans. And the radio director is in the background waving his arms to the guy with the microphone mouthing, “Keep it on the Yankee!". And so we went on talking about how we preach the word. And all the great things about my president. Super Star Elder Greene.

I met a Jewish man the other day. He is actually a friend of the girl Milena who was recently baptized. He´s pretty awesome. He looks like he is from Hobbitown. But we asked if we could come over because we wanted to know if there was a Jewish synagogue nearby. Well it’s not too nearby, but maybe someday I’ll make a visit to the ole synagogue. As he cooked up a nice asado, he told me his entire life story. He is from Israel. And moved here when he was young. And has had like a billion jobs including the circus. Circus life is great. He actually joined the circus because he thought it would be cool, and there he learned how to tight rope walk while juggling torches. He is also the guy that can eat a sword. He taught me how to train your throat to eat a sword. Who knows I might be circus material.

We found Domingo the other day sitting on a wall, pondering on life. So we took a seat and talked with him. And of course the first thing he says is. “You know what sin is.......The sexuality?"... That’s small talk with Domingo.

It was another great week for Jessica Perez, who was baptized on Saturday. She’s totally awesome because she comes to church, always with her two newly born twins in her arms, followed by her other kids; by bus. She was really happy about her baptism. She invited us over to eat tarta-frita. It was raining.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but when it’s raining, everyone makes this fried food called tarta-frita. No one knows why, they just do it. That’s also why it’s hard to teach people in the rain because if you knock on someone’s house while it’s raining, they come to the door with flour all over them yelling "sorry but we are making tarta frita."

No joke… everyone is making tarta-frita.

I love you guys

Elder Greene

Week 066 - Everyone Goes At It While The Mormons Just Eat Fish

Congratulations on another successful egg hunt. One of the many reasons I am proud to be an American, is the annual tradition of looking for eggs dropped by the Easter bunny. My companion, sadly to say, sees these traditions as distractions of Satan. I proudly disagree, and defend it as a healthy balance of worship and good times. Because clearly you guys accomplished both… remembered the resurrection of Jesus Christ while enjoying a few starburst jellybeans.

I actually had a fantastic Easter Sunday as well. A couple families of the ward had invited us over for dinner and lunch, I was delight for the invitation, but can you believe it… when I tell you that there were no cheesy potatoes on either these dishes? But that was alright, they were both great eats. And both spaghetti with a meat sauce. No joke guys, if someone invites you over to eat here, it’s either spaghetti with a meat sauce, or a fried breaded chicken. Both are some of my favorite foods, so we are in the clear. And check this… the bishop’s family gave us a super cool present. A CHOCKLATE EGG! But check this out, once I bit into the chocolate I soon realized there was A TOY INSIDE OF A CHOCLATE. Another missionary told me that these don’t exist in the United States because too many weirdos accidently ate the toy inside, so they had to get rid of them. I don’t know if that’s true, but you can’t always have nice things.

I don’t remember if it’s the same in Texas, but here people get Thursday and Friday off work and school for Easter preparation. Dedication. So everything is pretty much shut down for the weekend. And everyone eats loads of fish and wine. It’s a catholic tradition, but everyone goes at it while the Mormons just eat fish. It’s pretty great though because everyone books it down to the river in the morning to catch fish, and then they sell them in the streets; fish, fish empanadas, fried fish, fried breaded fish, and some other kind of fried dish that you can do with fish. People try to hose the missionaries with all their fish advertisements, because everyone thinks we have money. They even try to screw up the prices. But I don’t get pushed around, I know your fish is not worth that much. So yeah, it was a fish weekend.

Another exciting event, was that Recreo had a new member named Milena join the church. The sister missionaries of Recreo had been teaching a ten year old, and she was baptized on Saturday. Her parents did not get baptized, but her mom comes with her to the Sunday meetings. So hopefully there is some change in her in the future. Her baptism went a little crazy because the church ran out of water, so the baptismal font only filled up half a foot. So it was time for some problem solving, calling for the firefighters, or steal the next door neighbors’ water with a hose. So we stole the water from the next door neighbor. We asked of course, but it was kind of funny trying to explain to the women at the door why we need her water. And so we connected three hoses, and were able to transport water from her house to the font. And the water flowed super slowly, so eventually we just decided it was high enough that she could fall back under the water. Good day.

Aldana Ramirez is doing awesome and comes to all the activities of the church. Actually, right now she is with us watching a bunch of the videos of the church. She downloads them and shows them to her family and dogs on her TV. Super neat.

We are teaching a couple right now named Fernando and Gisela Galli, they are a super special family. A member of the ward gave us their address, and so we passed by their house. it was super funny because he answered the door, and right when he saw us he said, "Come on in." And so I thought, “Sweet, nice to meet you.” Then he said, "Jesus sent you guys, right?" We didn’t realize that the name of the member that gave us the address was named Jesus. So yeah, both Jesuses sent us. But this family, when we teach them, has such a spirit in their home, and has really strengthened my testimony on the restoration. That’s all. We´ve been teaching them since our first visit. And when we talk about the Book of Mormon and the visitation from God and Jesus Christ to Joseph Smith, it’s not just a story, but it’s the truth, and the reality that we are part of it. They have a lot to change before they can become members of the church, and they are moving to another area in our zone, but it’s really cool what’s been happening to these people.

I love you guys and miss you! I’m so glad you all had a great Easter Sunday!

Elder Greene

Week 065 - Your Boss Was Out With His Grandma and a BASTA Sign

Wow! Impressed by Jake´s dedication to the proposal tradition. And also Katie’s dedication to the Lumberjack Club. Life seems great back at the livable forest.

This past week was pretty neat. For an entire day Argentina was shut down. For who knows why. Everyone and their dog decided to go on strike. I guess no one likes the new president. So what do you do? ... Head for the streets with your BASTA signs. You know what? … I’m going to go off track here and explain why BASTA is such a phenomenal use of the Spanish language? The literal meaning would be ENOUGH! But it is so highly used in my mission that I must take the time to say, that if you ever feel undermined, or not satisfied with your circumstances, you can declare BASTA! With cause. And watch all your wildest dreams come true, as 50% of the population around you joins in for the cause. And then comes the classic burning tires in the street. Now, if you were smart enough, you would have taken the day off work, with good excuse; because one - the streets were shut down, and two - your boss was out with his grandma and a BASTA sign. What is great though, is that I was talking with a member and he said this happens like every year due to unsatisfied customers; and then life goes on.

You know, the greatest part about this whole thing is that it happened on a Thursday. And Thursdays are when we go to Candiotti. And so, early in the morning a member drives us over, and then we take the bus back. Well, it turns out no one was home in Candiotti. There’s a population of 1060 persons in Candiotti, and little did I know that it was BASTA day. And I am for real when I say that there was no one in this town. And so when it was time to head back to Recreo, we waited, and waited, and waited, and a bus never came. We got the idea that a bus was not coming, and learned that the streets were shut down, and no one could pick us up. So we took the long walk home on BASTA day. Worst best day ever.

So our mission president is very kind, because he likes to give a new triple combination scripture, with a letter, to every new convert. It’s super cool and comes with their name embossed and everything. And so the package came in for Rocio and Sergio Argota. But someone decided to change up their last name to Argoya. And luckily, before giving them the present. We stopped by the bishop's home and we showed him the scriptures. And he and his wife just bust out laughing and wouldn’t tell us why. Well, we learn that Argoya is a pretty foul word, so it wouldn’t be too appropriate to give a present that says Hermano y Hermana Argoya. So with my handy dandy workmanship, we were able to change (the best we could) that "y" to a "t"...clutch.

I was walking out in the fields when all of a sudden, people just start booking it down the street with lawn chairs. And so when you see trouble, you have to follow it. And so the first thing I’m thinking is "there is a chair fight going on". It turns out I was wrong, and Recreo was actually on fire. The city of Recreo wasn’t on fire, but a huge field was. For the record though, seeing random fires is not uncommon. It’s either someone burning their trash or burning their grass, because apparently it’s easier that cutting it. But this field-fire was huge, covering a huge field. And to the citizens of Recreo, this is better than TV, so everyone’s got their chairs and watching it like fireworks. The fire fighters came... so that’s good.

We had another mini MTC in Santa Fe. So all the missionaries in the area had to go and show one of the youth what’s up about missionary work. And it is really cool to see all these kids come out and go around in their neighborhoods, knocking doors, and passing the spirit of Easter around. And these youth love it. And they tell their experiences at the end. And everyone has some kind of story to tell. And it changes their opinions about missionary work. It’s really great.

We ate lunch again with the bishop yesterday. And lunches with the bishop are my favorite, because this family is totally nutz and hilarious. But at the end they brought out the desert. And the dessert was mandarins. And I recalled the last time I ate mandarins with this family, it turned into a mandarin peel war. I was the only missionary of the 4 that had experienced this. And so I knew what was going on. So I at like 4 mandarins and was saving up my peels. And my companions were wondering why I was eating so many mandarins. Well, the Ramirez family knew why, because a few minutes later all my fellow missionaries were getting destroyed with mandarins in their face in the mandarin peel war of the century.

I’m going to have to tell you how happy I am to know Aldana Ramirez who was recently baptized in the ward of Recreo. She has come to know and understand Christ. Since we met this girl, she has become the person who without much question, says yes to the commandments and guidance of the Lord. Every time we pass by her house, she is outside with her Book of Mormon. She reads it every day. And I asked her why she reads it every day. And she told us that the prophet in conference told us to do so, and she knew it was true. And I felt so happy to hear those words spoken with such confidence. Especially from someone who just came to know of it a little more than a month ago.

We actually came back to the chapel to finish conference with some of our investigators. And it was wonderful to be with all of them during the talk of Joaquin E Costa, who was baptized into the church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There was a real connection between the investigators and the speakers’ conversion story and testimony, as he talked directly to those investigators. I do not just think this, but I know, because one women named Yessica Perez, who has been investigatig the church for a bit a time, with tears in her eyes, said that she wanted to take things seriously and be baptized in this church. There was a powerful spirit in that room. And she continues to come to church, by bus, solo, because her husband is in jail. She does take this seriously, because she comes with her two newly born twins in her arms, and 3 other children following her.

It’s really a great experience to know these people. And it is such a wonderful week, to remember our savior Jesus Christ, I want to let you know that I do know he lives. And I thank my father in heaven with all of my heart for reminding me of that knowledge. When I feel the same familiar loving spirit that I had always felt in our home, in the church across the world in the country of Argentina.

I love you.

Elder Greene

Week 064 - Touched By The Talk From The Asian Guy

Oh Wow.

That was quite the day, huh... coming into the mission for the first time. I had actually forgotten there was a Santa Fe mission blog. I wonder who is in charge of that.

Well anyways, I am doing great guys. I just woke up to some great pastries and juice today (because I bought them Saturday, so I can wake up to pastries and juice). So it should be a great day.

Yesterday was kind of lame. The power went out during the first session of conference and never came back on until later in the night. Classic Recreo. We actually waited in the church building about 3 hours until we realized it’s probably never going to come back on. And it was raining, so we went to drink the waters of eternities the rest of the night. We´ll have to find another time to finish off conference. But it was quite clear the invitation of the prophet... to read the Book of Mormon everyday of our lives. And he has promised us many blessing on our families if we do so.

There were a lot of talks on the family, and strengthening the family. But I was really touched by the talk from the (I’m sorry I don’t remember his name) Asian guy who spoke about family history. But I came to understand more about us being the link in the chain of our family. And the importance of us being the strong link and not the weak link. There is a pamphlet that the church came out with about maybe 5 years ago called "my family" and the point of it is to do family history work. I think everybody I knew, kind of threw it to the side, because most of our family temple work is done. But that pamphlet is very important to a lot of people out here in Recreo, and it’s not just about completing temple work, but writing the history and stories of our ancestors. And I got into it, and started studying my family in Family Search, because there are stories of my great grandparents. And I've also been taking time to write stories about my grandparents, and you guys, and it has really turned into a great experience. And so as I began ...and I started to feel the same promises that this general authority was explaining. And no joke, I began to feel a spirit of love and understanding of my link in the chain of our family. And I couldn’t believe that I had never taken the time to follow the council of the prophets, and learn more, and think my more about this subject.

Before conference, it was kind of a lame week, with not much going on. Most of our plans were falling through, and we were not able to teach anyone except for Daraunt (I think that is how they spell his name). Daraunt hangs outside of the grocery store everyday and wants us to come over to his house, but we are only allowed over on Sundays at 3 30 pm. And if we are not there, then too bad... next Sunday at 3 30. So we haven’t had the chance to talk to him at his house, but only in front of the grocery store. Hmmmmm… so why 3 30 pm?

While in the city of Santa Fe, we came across the one Asian food place in all of Santa Fe. And it turned out to be really good. And it’s in a super cool location off the ports of Santa Fe. I have a Few pics I’ll have to send.

So for reals ... my diet lately has been, peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast lunch and dinner. Its non-stop and taking control of my mission life. It’s so good. Also, the maple syrup is really good too. I think I made enough for the next two transfers. So I invited the other Elders to come over and eat pancakes. We can eat a lot of pancakes, so we made 40, and with one frying pan. It was the longest time I’ve taken to make pancakes for sure.

I love all you guys. I’m glad you are doing great. I’m sad you didn’t make chili for the chili cook off … but that’s alright.

Elder Greene