Semana 17- Salta

¡Hola Todos!
Responses to your emails:The piano in the chapel is very basic—I can’t really record anything on it, let alone the fact that the ward members probably wouldn’t be able to figure out how to use it! We did enjoy the toy cars. We didn’t experience battery trouble, but then again, we didn’t try to use them for more than a minute so yeah :P It charges pretty fast though so it’s alright. I did get Grandpa Reeder’s letter and wrote him a response today because yes, I got your letter with the stamps on Wednesday. I laughed because his translator translated Drew’s name to ‘dibujó’ which means ‘(he/she/it) drew’ and the store Sears to the verb meaning to sear/singe! I couldn’t relieve it snowed in Dallas either! Glad to hear the family is keeping busy and alive.

Every 6 weeks is transfers, so the next transfer happens the 25th of January, and then 6 Mondays after that, and then 6 Mondays after that, etc. I noticed the General Conference podcasts and if their are any good talks I want I’ll grab them. It’s just that there are soooo many, I’d have to be searching for one—I can’t just window shop on this one. I’ll keep looking, but the hymns and other music cost money so I can’t really get those either.
Dad, I hope things go well for you with Rockwood and moving over. I often find your gut instinct is usually right, even if you have to feel a little sting after the decision. I’m not sure how buying out another company works, but I feel that the admins need to realize that there are always consequences to big decisions like this. If they really wanted to keep you, they ought to have researched into your situation a little bit more before making their move. You’ve done your research and with what you’ve been given/offered, you have discovered the better choice. Heavenly Father will guide things along for your benefit because you have done all you can. I know the Rockwood admins won’t be happy, but I’m not sure if I understand if there’s a threat or not. Again, I hope all goes well.
I can’t wait to hear Jason on the cello! I laughed at what Nick said about how “Jason…placed Joy to the World. And Drew…I don’t know what he played.” :)So guess what I totally just remembered family?!?! About 10 years ago, we made a 10-year time capsule and it’s sitting in the basement storage closet. I think it’s about time to open it up and I demand pictures of what everyone wrote/put in there!
Christmas time was quite interesting down here. The night of Christmas Eve was spent as the 8 elders in our district eating dinner and enjoying some of Heavenly Father’s fireworks and a huge rainstorm to go with it. At midnight, and for the following 40 minutes, everyone in the country just let every firework possible go off, ranging from firecrackers all the way up to professional-grade globos! I hear that because of the rain, it wasn’t as spectacular as it’s been and that the New Year will be even better! We woke up the next morning and opened gifts (thank you for those that them to me). We then walked around singing carols for a few families in our area, followed by a big lunch that our district put together. I got to call home after that, which for those that don’t know, is one of the 2 opportunities every year that I get to call home, the other being Mother’s Day. Elder Young and I then made some banana bread from mom’s recipe and gave some to a member family. It turns out we discovered an interesting difference in American and Argentine taste buds: the more flavor a food has, the more likely an American will like it, but the more likely an Argentine will think it’s weird/too overpowering. This was pretty much the case with this banana bread: the mom thought it was ok but insisted her budín de pan was much better tasting (of course, it was pretty bland :P). Our whole pension loved it enough though that we made a full second batch and just feasted on it ourselves! I think if someone wants to give me some weird Argentine food, I might give them some of my banana bread in return ;)
We had an interesting experience in church on Sunday. We walked to an investigator’s house to walk her and her 2 sons to church. Her dog decided to follow us all the way to the church. I thought it was great having the guard dog, until he insisted on entering the building too. He did everything possible to get in and even tricked me and got inside through a back door to the church that was left open (for security, of course!)—he promptly headed into the chapel and bugged our investigator! After getting him back outside and getting all the doors closed, I just decided to stand guard at the door and assist the latecomers because this dog would not give in! It was pretty crazy, but we still had a spiritual time.We were walking around yesterday and I saw the coolest thing ever! Many of the houses have little signs on their doors saying “Este hogar es catolico” followed by a little message ranging from blessing those that enter to “we don’t accept other religions, please respect this” (or something close to that; we knock anyways just because we aren’t forcing our religion on them, we’re just wanting to present our message to them ;) ) Well, on this one particular door, it read “Este hogar es cristiano” followed by a nice big logo of our church and the 13th Article of Faith (email me if you don’t know what it is) and ending with “In order to learn more, knock the door”!!! I thought it was fantastic!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
Love,Elder Powell