semana 25-Yuto

¡Hola Todos!
The rain finally let up about halfway into the week. I was walking in shin-deep water at one point!
We had zone conference this last Thursday. I must say I thoroughly enjoy going to zone conference! So many good talks, lots of missionaries to talk with, and it's always pleasing to meet with President and his wife. After conference ended though, I was given a rather unexpected surprise--I'm being transferred early up to a pueblito called Yuto in the Jujuy province. (If you want to pronounce them like an Argentine, it's 'shooto' and 'hoohooee' (accents underlined)) Apparently it competes for being the poorest area in the mission. They only have a branch there: my comp, Elder Sangroni, from Buenos Aires is Branch President and I'll be 1st counselor! There's still a week left in the transfer, but I already moved up here yesterday. I'll have more details on the place next week.
For now, back to Salta. I ran into these tourists the other day as I was printing out photos. They were have issues with a virus that got onto their SD card and were trying to work with the employees to get things fixed. Unfortunately (I learned later) she was from Israel and just knew the basics of Spanish and he was from Holland and didn't know a lick of Spanish! Luckily they both spoke English, so I gladly hopped in and played interpreter as we fixed things up. I got to talking with them more and found out that they found each other in Costa Rica, of all places! She was living in New York at the time but had since moved. Now they're travelling around here in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, etc.! I was shocked! They asked what I was doing here and I started to explain how I was a missionary and what I was doing here. Yet shortly after I started talking to them, the sheer fact that I was making a contact in English dumbfounded me enough that I really couldn't think of what to say next--my mind was so preoccupied that I couldn't talk in Spanish with them! We still had a nice conversation though, even though I could've made something more out of it.
February 27th was a crazy day... we started off the morning having heard about the 8.8 earthquake in Chile earlier in the morning--my comp was from Santiago, Chile. So he was a little preoccupied about that. We then got a call around 12:00--Lucas, the son of my most recent baptism, died. It was his 14th birthday. He was getting baptized this upcoming Saturday. We rushed over to the hospital to start helping out the family--Rosa, the mom, was sobbing like no other, with reason of course. My companion and I were brought into the emergency room to see Lucas--I didn't need to see a dead body to know that I didn't want to become a doctor. I'll spare the details. He died of a stopped respiratory system which was caused by 'hipertension endocraneana' (I'm sure you can translate that yourself). All I could understand of the situation was that he started having flu-like symptoms yesterday and was brought to a clinic. When he needed to get hospitalized the next morning, there weren't any available ambulances so he didn't get the oxygen he needed. A doc came in his own car to pick them up, but Lucas died fairly quick after that. We stayed with the family for a few hours, helping to calm them down. The whole time my comp was glued to the tv in the cafeteria as it was giving coverage on the earthquake in Chile. The damage actually wasn't as bad as it could've been, Chile was fairly well prepared. We headed over to a nearby member's house to inform them of the death of their recent-convert's son. We were standing outside of the house when we felt an earthquake as well! I don't think it hit us from Chile--their big one was in the early morning and the secondary earthquakes were smaller. The news said it was a 6.1 earthquake that hit Salta--I'm pretty sure it hit somewhere south of Salta because I was on the northern tip of Salta and it was fairly small compared to a bigger number like 6.1. I first thought that I was just getting dizzy as I was standing there in the street, but I looked upward and the light poles and power cables were definitely oscillating, but not enough to be in danger of falling or breaking. Definitely an interesting experience though.
The next day was Sunday, my last day in the area, ward conference, and Lucas' viewing and funeral services. Ward conference was nice. We headed to the viewing after that. And then we rushed off to the terminal...what a way to end my stay in La Loma--the death of an investigator!
I can't afford to dwell on it though. Preach My Gospel has a good quote that isn't directed towards this specific challenge, but it can apply (I've only got Spanish closeby, sorry; give Drew or your ward members some homework): "Los discípulos de Cristo sienten dolor cuando las personas deciden no arrepentirse [o se mueren], pero esos discípulos mantienen la visión de lo que son y de lo que hacen, y continúan avanzando con diligencia"
All of you are disciples of Christ as well. No se desanimen cuando algo malo les pasa a ustedes. Siguen adelante, no más.
Alright, I've gotta head out. I love you all!
-Elder Powell-