A Lovely Week in Buenos Aires
A hundred years ago, an apostle of Jesus Christ, Melvin J. Ballard, came to Buenos Aires to dedicate South America to receiving the gospeal of Jesus Christ. This was not about just having missionaries from North America come to teach the people about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was about expanding the worship of Jesus Christ. The mission for us today is the same. We want to bring people to Jesus Christ, to live their faith. What better way to make the world a better place?
On Friday, August 22, we were priviledged to attend a concert commemorating this day. It was a lovely mix of music in both English and Spanish performed by the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, local cultural dancing and popular Argentine musical artists.
Most people would assume that a concert of this kind would be all preaching but it was not. Only the last 30 minutes (of a two and a half hour event) focused on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In that segment, a large number of young full-time missionaries joined in singing, in Spanish, Called To Serve, the song that most of us full-time missionaries refer to when we need a little energy boost or focus on our mission here. Although those of us who serve in the area office are not seen publicly, we are supporting the missionary efforts by performing tasks that would distract young missionaries. Some of the tasks require a particular expertise.
Mike has been heavily involved in working with the people on the ground in cities in our area that are prepping for a new temple. It's amazing how different the laws can be in each location.
Something that has caught my attention is how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is keen to be good citizens, to strictly follow the laws of the local area wherever they are located. Fun fact: even though the church has announced numerous temples that will be built, some, (ie, Singapore China), have not even broken ground yet. Why? Sometimes the locations are in countries or cities where paying bribes are key to getting anything done and the church policy is to never pay bribes. As a result, some temples stall in the planning phase.
You have also probably heard about temples being built in the U.S. being delayed because of local opposition. It can get very contentious. The church tries to avoid contention. From what I've seen, in most of these cases, the opposition is based on prejudice of some kind, false assumptions or general anti-Christian or anti-church-of-any-kind sentiment. However, in the majority of cases, once exposed to the truth, those opponents see they've made an error and if not enthusiastically, welcome a temple to their area.
As an aside, I've seen people decide to embrace the building of a temple in their neighborhood because of the historic rise in home values in these areas.
The ward (local church branch similar to a parish), we attend is lovely. Before we arrived, we were assigned the Juncal Ward. Juncal is the name of the street on which we live but the building is a couple of miles away. We are learning how sweet the people here are and how they warmly welcome everyone. I have to use the Google Translater on my phone to understand the talks, etc, and it does help me understand a bit better each time. No translator is needed to feel the spirit of God in the every meeting.
Our senior missionary partners, the Gonzalez's, head home in November and we will be the senior missionaries in the Juncal Ward. We cannot take their place. They are incredible people. They have been so helpful and kind! But the ward is happy to have seinor missionaries in their midst and we will find how best to serve the people.
We love serving here. We love you all!
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