This is the second to the last Consejos we will have on our mission. Today is the last time the Zone Leaders will come to my home for their special taco dinner (the movers will have taken all my pots and pans by the June date). It was a memorial meeting for all involved. Little did I know the Assistants and President had something up their sleeves.
Elder Fielding and Elder Rabanal (Valle de Uco), Elder Gomez and Elder Cabranes (Guaymallen).
Elder White and Elder Moncur (Godoy Cruz), Elder Garcia and Elder Orduña (Mendoza).
Elder Frost and Elder Redd (Maipu), Elder Burr and Elder Hopkin (San Luis).
Elder Menocal and Elder Roberts (not shown, Chimbas), Elder Morinico and Elder Abella (San Rafael), Elder George and Elder Mason (San Martin).
Sorry bad photo- Elder Scoville and Elder Barra (Alvear), Elder Harvey (standing, AP), Elder Williams and Elder Esplin (Villa Mercedes), Elder Hyer...
Elder Hyer and Elder Sandford (San Juan), Elder Hoggard and Elder Ivie (Off-ice), Elder Lucas (APT).
Elder Lucas and Elder Robinson (AP Traveling), Elder Leal and Elder Harvey (AP's), Me
New Zone Leaders called in April. Elders Mason, Scoville, Ivie, Hoggard, Rabanal, Orduña.
Winner of the April "Copa" (best numbers) goes to Elder Orduña and Elder Garcia from the Mendoza Zone. The missionaries asked me just said last month which zone I thought would never win the cup and I said the Mendoza Zone. So congratulations to Elder Orduña and Elder Garcia for proving me wrong.
After my Consejos talk, President and all the leaders decided to give me a special treat. Elder Harvey was voice, and they expressed their love and thanks for all the dinners and treats and awards that I have given over the last three years. To express this thanks, they gave me three special gifts to remember Argentina for.
The first gift was to represent the great beef that Argentina is known for. Elders Esplin and Williams presented me with a fancy silver knife to slice up my beef with.
Our great office secretary Elder Ivie had looked up all the facts about the Argentine beef and presented them all to me as I admired my knife.
Next came the second gift. It also represented Argentina. The main discussion we have with the missionaries is that they can't drink Mate, a drink that has a stimulant in it. The main reason is that the custom is to sit around all afternoon and visit with family and drink from the same Mate cup and straw. So you can imagine the two things we don't want, missionaries spending hours for lunch and then sharing germs. I was presented (in the box) a special silver Mate cup by Elders Scoville and Barra.
Last but not least was the largest of the gifts. It was presented by Elders Sandford and Hyer. I was kidding that the last gift should be a bottle of wine because that is the main production in the valley, with miles and miles of vineyards and bottle and bottles of wine. I was a bit thrown off by the shape and the weight. But my husband wanted me to know that this was a special gift, not just a regular bottle of wine. And boy was he right. They gave me a beautiful hand crafted (took 10 years to make by the artist, one of a kind) bulls horn that is about two feet long (if not curved) and adorned with silver. It is a cask for carrying wine like the olden days. I joked that it was for carrying my lemonade. You can sort of see the picture of it below. According to the artist and others, this size horns is not allowed to be sold anymore.
All my wonderful missionaries together, just so I can remember the moment.
After the Consejos meeting (which lasts about 5 hours), the missionaries come to the mission home for lunch/dinner. I cooked 16 pounds of hamburger for tacos, but my recipe has rice and lots of other good things in it. So for that volume of food it should be sufficent for 33 people, right? There wasn't a scrap left.
They look very happy with lots of food in their stomachs.
Elders White, Esplin, Hyer.
The Zone Leaders with a special flag, made to represent their goal for May. When Nephi was commanded by the Lord to build a boat to take his family to the Promised Land, the Lord said to Nephi, "Thou salt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these water." This wasn't just any kind of boat. It was a huge boat and Nephi didn't have the tools or even know anything about building boats. But he trusted in the Lord. Sort of like the trust these missionaries have with their President when he says that he knows that they can do miracles because they have faith in the Lord that He will help them. If Nephi can build a boat with the Lord's help, then our missionaries with sufficient faith can do great things. The challenge is 130 baptisms in the month of May. Let's see if they can do it.
The Army of the Lord!(Left back) Elders Morinico, White, Esplin, Redd, Barra, Frost, Cabranes, Scoville, George, Hoggard. (Left Middle) Elders Garcia, Gomez, Moncur, Rabanal, Fielding, Menocal, Roberts, Abella, Burr, Sandford, Hopkin, Hyer. (Front) Elder Orduña, Leal, Harvey, Robinson, Lucas, Mason, Williams (not shown Elder Ivie).
Thanks to all of you for a great day.
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