
We had more Skype meetings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings with our 2 young lady missions candidates that we coach. They’re very different from each other, but each is passionate about missions. One is already in the field, and one has more seminary courses to finish while she’s working full-time. It’s a privilege to have these relationships! Of course, we think all missionaries on the field (or called to missions) would greatly benefit from a coach!
The oven in our
house is working now, but still finicky about staying on, and there’s
very little we can do to control the temperature. Even so, I had
bananas ready for banana bread, so I tried it one evening. The oven
was just too hot so the bread cooked too quickly on the outside and
not much at all on the inside. What was edible was tasty though!
Dan has lots to do
in/around the Regional Office – as he tweaks the security cameras
and handles software issues. My office work is a bit sporadic; there
will be more things to do on a regular basis after the month of
December. But we have staff devotions each morning and a longer one
on Wednesday mornings, led by Rev. Carlos Fernandez. I was SO excited
after this Wednesday’s Bible study – I understood almost
everything he said in Spanish! That feels SO good after last year,
not understanding much at all during devotions or church… those
Spanish lessons at CALL in Costa Rica in October were awesome – and
very valuable!
Friday night, we
joined the Claytons and Cindy Downey at a restaurant we’d
been hoping to try, La Caballeriza (The
Stable). It’s
so funny that, even when we arrived a little after 8:00 PM, we were
the first ones there! Argentines began to arrive around 9:00 and, by
the time we were ready to leave, around 10:00, the place was full!
The peppercorn steak that we shared, with Papas
de España (Spain-style potatoes), was
delicious!
Since I’ve always
got a grocery list going, we needed to run to the store on Saturday,
deciding on the Carrefour at Promenade Champagnat this time. There’s
a health food store there too, where we can get, in bulk, things that
are less common for Argentines, like oatmeal, dried fruit, and
granola. It’s an outing in itself (such a nice shopping center!)
and, since we’d also received a coupon for Buy-One-Get-One ice
cream cones at Freddo’s, we had to use it. And, oh-my-word, that
ice cream is good!! I tried Coco con
Dulce de Leche (coconut with caramel
ribbons) AND Chocolate con Almendras
(almonds); it really was just an obscene amount of fabulous ice
cream! We managed to get through it (*groan*) and head home to put
away the groceries! We didn’t need much dinner that night!
The neighborhood
became populated this weekend too! Some new families moved in; next
door is Rachel (we’d already met her; she’s our boss Liliana’s
niece) and her husband Marcos. Next door to them are Marcos’
parents and, in the 4th
house, is Marcos’ brother and his family! They’re so excited to
be living together in these nice houses! A security service company was also
working on one of the front gates all day – now it’s automated
and we can use a remote to open it; no more having to get out and
unlock the padlock, push the gate open, then pull it shut and re-lock
(which was my job since I can’t drive the stick-shift truck)!
The
Radis needed to stay into the evening, but we took off about 2:00 PM,
since the Claytons wanted to experience the town of Tigre, about an
hour away, before they return to the States. There, we explored the
shops and just enjoyed the atmosphere, especially fun with lots of
other people doing the same thing while Christmas shopping. Tigre is
a waterfront town originally known for its fresh produce market, but
there are lots more opportunities to shop for furniture and home
goods, clothing and handicrafts too! We are certainly blessed to
have the use of a vehicle for a while!
This was another
fun, but exhausting, weekend… maybe the quiet times during the
Christmas break will feel relaxing!
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