From the Streets of Buenos Aires - November 5, 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

The biggest news from this week is that I WENT TO BUENOS AIRES!

The elder that was supposedly organizing the whole trip told us he was going to call us Monday to give us all the details. Monday came and went and we heard nothing. We figured he didn´t have everything set up yet and he would call Tuesday. Nope. We began to assume we had misunderstood and that we were going to go some other time. "Maybe it´s next week," we said to ourselves. I tried calling a few times but couldn´t get through. Finally, Wednesday morning, the day we were supposed to be leaving, I called again and finally got through. I explained that we were just a little confused because we thought we were going to be traveling to Buenos Aires, but we hadn´t heard anything, and asked if it was for next week. That is when Elder Flores said:

"NO, Hermanas! It is today! You are leaving today! Your bus leaves Resistencia at 7:30 tonight, you need to be here in the offices by 6:30."

Apparently he thought he had already called and told us all the details. Nope!

So, basically, we had to drop everything right then, go home, pack up our bags and hop on a bus to Resistencia. It is nearly 3 hours to Resistencia and then 13 more hours to Buenos Aires. To top it all off, right before we got on our first bus to Resistencia, Hna Medina fell and sprained her ankle pretty bad and scraped up her knee. Poor thing. Such awful luck! But the good part was that with looong bus rides ahead of her, she wouldn´t have to do her usual amount of walking.

We took a luxurious sleeper bus to Buenos Aires and they put us in the first class VIP seats. It was spectacular! The seats were soooo comfortable and folded back 180 degree to turn into beds. It was much more comfortable than my actual bed here in Formosa. There was lots of space: a personal curtain to draw around every seat for privacy, personal movie screens in front of every seat. They fed us a full hot dinner and breakfast, offered us free champagne and wine, played bingo, gave us toothpaste and toothbrushes, showed a movie (that I didn´t watch) , etc.etc.etc.

Okay, enough about the bus.... But I have never traveled in first class anything, so it was quite the experience for me.

When we got to the terminal we were greeted by Hermana Medina´s parents!

It was really cool to meet them. She lives right there in the city, about 15 minutes from the bus terminal. So she was freaking out the entire time about being so close to home. Her mom gave her a giant bag of clothes and gifts for the little kids here and hand cream and lots of other random stuff.

Then, we met up with the representative from the church offices and he took us all around the city in his car. Buenos Aires reminds me a lot of New York City. I had a

lot of fun even though it was basically all business all day. We went to the Colombian Consulate building, waited a whole lot, went to the bank, waited some more. Back to the Colombian consulate. Here's a photo of Hna Medina outside the Colombian state building with the Colombian flag. Outside we met a Colombian woman selling "arepas" (a typical food there, it is like a round cheese cornmeal bread thing). We began to talk to her and a whole bunch of other Colombian people. It was fun. They have a very different accent and Hna Medina

was stoked to meet so many people from her future mission land.

At one point, when we were waiting outside the bank, I got my shoes shined. Later, our new friend from the church offices took us to a huge shopping mall and bought us McDonalds for lunch. It was wild. I felt like I was back in the states. There is no such thing as malls or Mcdonalds (or ANY fast food) here in Formosa.

We took a plane back to Resistencia Thursday night. It was much faster, but much less comfortable. I liked how they spelled my name on my ticket: "Broocke." I think I will consider adding an extra C to my name, just to give it more pizzaz. What do you all think?

Well, after our brief little adventure, we returned back to work here and things are going so well. We found a new investigator a few weeks ago named Ramon. He is amazing. He has come to church two weeks in a row and this week came in a white shirt and tie, passed out hymn books (without being assigned, he is just super helpful and attentive), paid his tithing (!!!, keep in mind that we only met him a couple weeks ago and he is not a member), and is already making all sorts of friends. The only problem is that he needs to get married to get baptized so we are working on that.

I spent so much time writing about Buenos Aires that I don´t have much time to write about anything else. To close I´ll add that this Sunday was the first Sunday in a while that it didn´t rain and, so, for the first time in a long time our chapel was full! So many people came. And many many people who have been inactive for some time, who we have been visiting, came back. All of a sudden my little "rama parque" was HUGE (comparatively), and everyone was greeting everyone, and we had a lively, active Sunday School lesson, and lots of people got up to share their testimonies, and I just was filled with the most immense joy for the whole 3 hours. I don´t think I have ever felt so happy at church before. It was an amazing feeling. I was just smiling and smiling the whole time. I think it’s because I love this branch so much, and feel so invested in its success that I feel like when it is thriving and happy, I am thriving and happy.

So, I guess that´s it. I´ll end here. I am happy. I hope all is well at home.

Love,

Hermana Parker