Argentina Day 6

Today we decided to go to Centro in Neuquen to see the city and go to the Feria there. There are tons of little back alleys with knock off clothing and such, and I loved shopping there as a missionary. Now I guess I’ve upped my standards as I wasn’t as enthralled in the fake jerseys and such. Don’t worry though—I did still get a $10 knock off Addidas long sleeve shirt. We spent some time in some nice leather stores looking at the unique jackets and mates they had there. Mom liked going in the Argentine home goods stores and seeing the merchandise there. We also got to go to the food market—they had all kinds of clothes, produce, homegoods, and other stuff for sale there. Again, it was pretty windy, but we enjoyed our time poking around the stores and markets there.

We then went to find my favorite Empanada place, Bairoletto. When a group of new missionaries enters the mission, the office provides Bairoletto empanadas on their first night. They are SO GOOD! I was a happy boy.

After lunch, we loaded up and went to Allen. I was so excited!!! Our first stop was to the Etchegaray’s apartment. Alex and Marina are both on their missions, but we were able to meet with the parents and their siblings. It was so good to see them. They were extremely welcoming and so happy to see us. Elder Henrie and I had made a big impact on their lives—especially Cristian and Hermana Etchegaray. I think it was Hermano Etchegaray who was the most excited to see us though! That guy was just on cloud nine the whole time we were there. I think that having two missionaries out from that family is going to make an enormous difference in their lives. Mom was sure to talk about writing their missionaries each week. They invited us back for lunch, so we’ll see them again on Monday.

As we headed out, we noticed that the church gates were open, so we decided to go use the restroom and see that church. We ran into Hermano Penalver, who works for the church in Neuquen. We talked to him for a bit, and took a quick tour of the church. The neatest thing about visiting was seeing the Allen Ward’s missionary plaques. There were 4—Alex Etchegaray, Marina Etchegaray, Emanuel Contreras, who was baptized by Alex, and Carlos Panero, who Alex also helped bring to church. It was incredible seeing 4 missionaries out from that ward. I could not be happier seeing that.

We then ran over to Luis Tagle’s house where we talked with him and his wife, Maria, and their daughters Mia and ____ for a good amount of time. Luis has kidney issues and has to go to dialysis 4 times a week in the early morning. Its pretty tough on him, but he is hanging in there. He is not active in church right now, but has a strong testimony. It was hard for him to be consistent because Maria didn’t support him in it. I do think and feel, however, that he will return and that Maria will come around at some point. He is still reading the book of Mormon and is good friends with Octavio Moreno, so he’ll get back at some point.

After the Tagles, we visited the Millaqueos who are still not done with their house! That family is the most extreme example of poverty I have seen. Edgardo wasn’t there, but we did get to see the rest o the family. We climbed up the rickety ladder to the upstairs to show my parents where I had laid bricks. It has come a ways, but is not done yet. They are an interesting family who live on top of each other in deep poverty. They were really grateful we swung by to see them.

After the Millaqueos, we went to an asado at the Onate’s house. Those people are so fun. We ended up not doing the asado because it was getting late and it hadn’t been started yet and we decided it would be good to get some sleep. Gladys and her husband came over as well, and they seem to be doing great. Her husband was very open and friendly with us. The missionaries were also there, so that was nice that I didn’t have to translate the whole time! Their kids are still characters, and the oldest two are not totally active. I had a great conversation with Hno. Onate about accepting a calling he’d been offered. He didn’t want to make the time commitment because he wanted to be with his family, but hopefully I helped sway him to take it. Even Hna. Onate wanted him to take it!  It was great seeing them—they were like family while I was there in Allen.