2014 begins hot and humid in Argentina

January 2014 has been so heavy with both record heat and record humidity.  You all know that Sister Knapp has naturally curly hair which brings its challenges in this kind of weather, but we knew it had really hit when she looked up from her computer at work into the window outside, saw herself and exclaimed in horror, "Oh no, I'm a poodle!"  That about says it!  But it's worse than this....Frizzzzz

 We have had some great Capillas Abiertas (Open Chapels) and some not as well attended.  In a place called Gran Bourg, we had a branch president who was so excited to have us come.  He is the father of four missionaries who are all serving right now in different countries.  Pte. Musmano and his wife were great support.  He was at the door of the chapel all night meeting everyone that came in and had such a big smile on his face.  It was awesome!  The support you get from the leaders makes such a difference.  This is also the place where Elder Knapp received his wasp sting on he end of his nose.  Several of the brethren and missionaries were stung on the neck and head and one on the eye.  But we don't know how they looked the next day....only our Rudolph....

 

We also got an email message back from him the next day thanking us for coming.  We feel blessed to have had the opportunity to meet him and his wife.

President Musmano and his wife (parents of 11 children-4 missionaries out right now)

 

Then comes the not so good Capilla Abierta.  We get there and no one is there to open the gate.  Finally some missionaries came to let us in.  We set up and wanted to have the devotional with all those who were there but no bishop came, no counselors, not much of anyone really.  We finally started without them.  Of course, this is one event where we had about 12 elders show up.  Not much to do for them...with the heat- if it is very hot people just don't go out and do much of anything- and the chapel not being located where many walked by.  The bishop showed up about an hour and a half late, without his family, and mostly stayed in his office working on reports or something.  That was discouraging for us.  The bishop usually sets the tone for the whole event.  No one brought any investigators and only a couple came.  One sister - not even from this ward- had invited a less active member to come.  I guess you have to have the disappointments to appreciate the awesome!

Doug served in Zarate 43 years ago for 6 months and there was just a small branch of about 32.  When we went back on January 18 there is a Stake and 2 giant wards with nice chapels.  It is about 48 miles from our apartment, so we got a good look at the countryside around the big city.  We found where the Mormons met 43 years ago, to the left.  It was quite an experience for dad to think back on all of the memories in this chapel especially playing the pump organ.

Above is a picture outside the current Stake Center.  This Open Chapel was very interesting.  We had a 45 minute power outage which left us without the use of our MP3 player for a while.  We also had a gentleman who was baptized at the conclusion of the event.  There was one sister who was a returned missionary who was determined not to let anyone pass by without coming into the chapel, and she really brought them in.  Once they were inside, the missionaries really did a good job of committing them for baptism, and testifying of the Book of Mormon.  It turned out to be a really good experience. 

 



 
 
 

We had to travel outside of Argentina so that our tourist visas would remain valid and so we jumped on the Buquebus, Silviana, which is a huge ferryboat.  It travels across the Rio de la Plata 3 or 4 times a day traveling at the speed of 45 mph.  There were hundreds of people aboard and there were 2 decks of really nice padded seats.  It was very relaxing.  We landed in Uruguay at a little port city which was a tourist hangout called Colonia Sacramental.  They have tried to restore it to its original design in the early 1800s but we were not impressed.  It just looks like a poor, rather beaten down villa in any Latin-American country.  We had noquis for lunch which are potato dumplings and they were tasty!  Now we are good for another 3 months.

Elder Knapp was called to serve as District Leader of the 10 Senior Missionary couples now that our current leader is going home.  That will be a little bit of extra work, but you do what you are asked to do in the Kingdom, right?  That means that Sister Knapp will also have some extra responsibilities conducting the Sister Meetings.

Last Thursday there was a record high of 47.5 degrees C in Bs. As. which is the hottest temperature since they started recording weather here.  They say that is about 117 degrees F.  We survived, but with the humidity, it was miserable.

For now we are just trying to stay in the shade.