Oh Valentine's Day

Every missionary’s favorite day.

They actually don't have Valentine’s Day down here, they have "Dia dos Namorados" but that's not for a few more months.  Apparently they have Valentine's Day in Argentina though.  Valentine's day filled me with much sadness and longing to see my significant other; I just have to find out who my significant other is first.  I'm so lonely....

So I got to try something that I haven't eaten for quite some time this week.

Brownies...

Yes I didn't believe it either, it's been a few months since I've had a good brownie and for lunch the other day a member made brownies, which is a rare delicacy down here.  Right now is Jaca season so there's been a ton of Jaca fruit for sale the past few days.  I got to try Jaca too; it's pretty good but has a pretty weird taste, almost like a banana.  It does, however look nothing like a banana.  It's this giant, green, spiky, fruit, which is larger than a watermelon, and it grows on trees.  If a Jaca falls on you, you'll probably die.  I also got to try something called "Brinco de Viúva" which is like a grape mixed with an olive and tastes about the same.

We taught one of my favorite lessons the other day, we taught this lady who had previously met with the missionaries and one of her kids was baptized so we decided to teach her.  She had a ton of questions and all of them had answers that we had.  She said it was like everything was making sense and that she finally understands things about the gospel she didn't previously understand.  She even started answering her own questions correctly which was awesome, definitely one of my favorite lessons yet.

We had a FHE with one of the ward families the other day to try and integrated some of our investigators with the ward.  It went over pretty well, I shared a message on faith and the food was good.  We also had pretty good entertainment in the form of a cockroach flying in through the window, (yes they fly down here, mind you this was on the ninth floor of an apartment building, how it got all the way up there I have no idea.)  Everyone starting screaming and freaking out and chaos ensued.  The little devil was disposed of and all were entertained, well at least I was, I thought it was pretty funny.

We had the baptism for one of our investigators this week.  She lives with family who are part of the church and lots of missionaries had tried to baptize.  We decided to be patient with her and she decided to get baptized on her own!!  It was a great service, everyone was happy, especially her mom, who wants all of her kids to join the church!  We had her uncle baptize her and it was definitely a very special moment.

This week was awesome and all is well.  Thanks for all and I hope your Valentine's Day wasn't as depressing as mine. Until next week!!!

Elder Johnson