Special P-day with Whole Mission, 12/21/10

Yesterday we had a special p-day activity with the whole mission in Ramos Mejía. President and Hermana Benton gave talks and different missionaries and zones in the mission performed musical numbers. There was a nice mix of serious Christmas hymns and more secular Christmas songs. Afterwards we ate a really good asado, potato salad with carrots in it, and fruit salad for dessert. There was a gift exchange too. For the gift I brought, I cut out a picture of Hermana Lopez and drew a halo around her like the Virgin of Lujan, then pasted that over a picture of the basilica. Then at the bottom of the picture I pasted a prayer I made up to "Nuestra Señora, la Hermana Lopez" pleading for more baptisms. I put the whole deal in a very tacky shiny silver frame that had dolphins on it. As soon as it was opened, a flock of missionaries gathered around to see it and everyone laughed. Hermana Lopez thought it was hilarious and took several pictures of it (the elder who recieved it liked it too much to trade it too her). The Virgin of Luján is infamous in our mission, because so many people believe in her and the other missionaries get frustrated trying to explain how we should only worship God. So that explains why everyone thought it was so funny, in case you didn´t get it.

At the activity I met a new sister who arrived two weeks ago. Her name is Hermana Tucker. As soon as she saw me she asked me if I had a friend in the MTC. I said yes, Alicia Garff. And she said that she met her! Apparently the night before Hna. Tucker left the MTC she met Hermana Garff and when Alicia found out where Hna. Tucker was going she ran to find a picture of me to show Hermana Tucker and told her she HAD to find me and say hello for her. I was so thrilled to get that message from Alicia and hear that she was doing well. Hermana Tucker and I talked a lot and I found out that she also knows Rachel because they were in the same ward! That was neat.

Nothing much happened during the week. Celeste and Mario are still going strong, but all our other investigators are flaking out on us, including one of my favorites, Victor. I think we will have to drop them (i.e. not visit so often) and focus on other people. That means we need to work extra hard to find new investigators. It´s depressing, but I feel like the new people we find may be more prepared to listen.