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