A Day in the Life

Well, I think Brynn an Emma have to be two of the cutest little girls in the world.  But that blue-buns thing has gotta be some kind of child abuse or something. (ha) 
Thought we'd share some of our latest happenings -- in the last week or two all of the stuff that follows occurred:

We were locked in our apartment -- yep, two senior citizens were like "I've fallen and can't get up".  We stuck our key in the slot to unlock the door to leave and the locking mechanism jammed and nothing we could do would unlock it.  We looked at each other like "Are you kidding me?!"  So we finally called a friend and he came over and we threw our keys down from the balcony and he came up and managed to get the lock to work from the outside.  He very nicely explained that "that sometimes happens with these locks" but he probably thought we were just a couple of helpless senior missionaries.

A funny story we heard was that a member recently went in for some financial help from the branch president who for whatever reason turned him down.  The member was so incensed that he went to the police and filed a complaint against the branch president!  The police apparently took the complaint but of course couldn't do anything.  The member's still active and serves in the branch, so they must've worked it out -- good for them. 

The following is a translation of a note that Mom received from one of the YW in the branch after only one music lesson --
Sister Macoi, hello sister - I wanted to tell you that I liked your piano class and I hope that you get better.  I miss you and we missed you today in church (Mom stayed home with a bad cold).  We want to say kisses and get better.  We will pray for you that you feel well for the next class.  We will wait for it with much desire to learn more.  We love you, sister Daiana Retamozo and Nadia Cardozo

When Mom was suffering from some sort of inexplicable left hand swelling and pain, I happened to ask the neighbor downstairs (who's an English teacher here in town) if she knew of any good doctors we could go see.  She got right on it and called a doctor she knows personally and got us in within a half hour when appointments usually take about a month.  The doctor also spoke English and gave Mom just what she needed to cure the problem -- anti-inflammatory medication with steroids.  So we had a senior sister missionary running around on steroids for a while -- pretty awesome!! -- and a very tender mercy.

While visiting a member family who's getting ready to go to the temple we found out that their 14 yr old daughter is planning to get married to a guy 10 years older than she is.  What?!  But they didn't think anything of it -- it's common for girls in their mid-teens to hook up with some guy much older -- usually without the benefit of marriage.  So maybe they thought it was OK, but we're going to try to dissuade them from giving their permission.  We really shake our heads at this culture at times.

Finally, there apparently was some kind of Harley convention or something in town last weekend -- there were all kinds of big motorcycles roaming around town.  Made me long for my Honda-Davidson and the open road.  You guys can give it up -- I'm never getting rid of it. (ha) 

Alright, let's see if I can maybe get a photo or two to post.

          
  
Mom's swollen hand so you know she wasn't faking it.

Well, I'm alreay having trouble getting anything else to post, so this'll have to suffice until we get hooked up to high-speed internet again.

Love and miss you all, XOS,
Dad