HELADOS (Ice cream)

The most important word in the Spanish language is "helados" pronounced ay-la-dos.  Just ask any missionary and you will find that this is the word that brings comfort, joy, and the courage to keep going.  It helps that Argentina is known worldwide for its delicious ice cream, and Buenos Aires boasts an ice cream shop on nearly every block.  We live in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires which is known for its parks with their beautiful trees and flowers.  There are also many paths to follow and park benches to enjoy, so of course there is much ice cream.

There are some flavors of ice cream here that you just cannot get anywhere else.  McDonalds which is just two blocks away does not have chocolate soft ice cream like you find in the States.  Instead they have soft dulce de leche ice cream (also available in twist with vanilla).  It is to die for!  It has a very rich caramel taste and is everyone's favorite down here!  They also have the McFlurries and Sundaes which are available with this flavor.  Yum!

We have 4 little ice cream shops within 2 blocks of our apartment.  They are pictured below.  The little shops do not have soft ice cream.  They sell it either by the cone, the quarter kilo, half kilo, or whole kilo.  It comes in Styrofoam containers with fun little plastic spoons.  It is expensive, with a quarter kilo sometimes costing 30 pesos.  That would be about $2.50 USD and is usually what one missionary orders.  Desiring to be dedicated missionaries and good neighbors, we have become very good friends with the owners and workers in these shops and are certain that they all have pass along cards and copies of the Book of Mormon!  We remember what Elder Ballard said in conference about "follow up" being important and feel a need to stop in often to make sure our "contacts" are progressing!

The chocolate "flavored ice cream comes in dark, very dark, and almost black!  They have almonds, swirls of dulce de leche, brownie chunks, raisins, or little crunchies if you like.  By far my favorite!
Janet likes dulce de leche the best and depending on her mood chooses, chocolate chips, almonds, brownies, swirls of chocolate, raisins, or all of the above. 

They also have cream flavors, with any word you want in front of the word cream, like almond, cherry, strawberry, cookie, chocolate, peach, coconut, banana, orange, mango, American, or lemon.  Of course you can have your ice cream bathed with a number of sauces, dulce de leche, chocolate, strawberry, and caramel to name a few.  You can have nuts put on top if you choose as well.

The non-cream flavors are more the fruits and are so rich and delicious.  They are not really sherbets like in the States, they are much richer, smoother, and creamier.  Lemon is by far the favorite flavor of the non-creams and especially if you add chocolate chips and nuts!  Delicious!  The watermelon and mango flavors are also really good and cherry is one to make your mouth really pucker!  Janet likes the orange with fresh peach chunks.  We also really like one called "Coco My Place" which has coconut flavored ice cream with swirls of dulce de leche, chocolate chips and almond slivers.  It is really good bathed in chocolate.

We have an open chapel to present every Saturday afternoon and it has become kind of a ritual to go a little bit early, drive around the area until we find an "heladeria" (ice cream shop) and stop for a treat before we start the program.  It has been really fun and we have become well-acquainted with lots of ice cream shop owners all over Buenos Aires, who now have copies of the Book of Mormon and our Open Chapel cards.  We love this work!

Well, now you know the truth.  The truth is, we have fallen in love with the ice cream capital of the world and have to work really hard to fit into the clothes that we brought down with us to Argentina 22 months ago!

Church Welfare Argentina Style

Tuesday, April 14, we were up early and made it to the Church Office by 8:00 in order to pick up a van.  We had some deliveries to make to the Deseret Industries because two couples are headed home and wanted to leave some items behind.  We picked up the Wallaces and the Fords at their apartments to go with us. I have done the most driving of anyone here in Buenos Aires, so they always make me drive.  We were headed out to Escobar before 9:00 which had been our goal.
Buenos Aires has 3 Bishop Welfare units.  The one in Escobar has clothing and food.  The others in Villa Amelia and Adrogue just have food.  Escobar is a suburb of Buenos Aires about half of an hour to the north on the freeway.  There was a lot of morning traffic. 
When we pulled into the parking lot there were people waiting outside of the building, ready for help.  We chuckled at the old, beat up car in the parking area.  It belongs to Brother Aguirrebarra, who is the director of the facility.  He was working under the hood of the old rattle-trap when we got there and we asked him what was wrong, he said, "oh, nothing is wrong with the car, but each day when I get to work, I take the battery out of it so that nobody will try to steal it!"  I laughed, but inside I thought, you know, the way that car looks, I don't think you have to worry about someone trying to steal it!

 

 

 

We enjoyed our tour of the facility.  It is very small compared to what we have seen in Utah and Idaho.  There is a little clothing shop, but it is not a Deseret Industries, per se.  No one can shop in the store or purchase any clothing items.  When someone comes to get clothing, with a Bishop's order, the person must first work for two hours and then the order gets filled.  What work is done?  Workers sort clothing, iron clean clothing, launder clothing items, stock shelves and put clothing items on hangers.  Working on both industrial and home sewing machines, they sew new clothing items which have been donated by stores, do hand stitching as needed, and help to put clothing on shelves  and displays.  Sister Trapp is the director of the clothing shop. She has a son who lives in Provo, Utah.  She has worked in Deseret Industry stores up there.  It is actually very impressive.

Brother Auirrebarra runs the actual Bishop's Storehouse.  Here again, those who come with an order for food scrub up and then get dressed in gown, hat, mask, and gloves.  They are responsible to fill plastic bags with product (rice, flour, sugar, milk, beans) from big bulk bags that are trucked into the facility.  The bags are sealed and placed on shelves. Unlike the ''storehouses" at home, they only have non perishable items and the only canned item is tuna fish.  No non-food items like soap or TP are available. Once two hours has passed, workers can proceed to the  "store" where their orders are filled by church service missionaries.  It was interesting to learn that the product is all manufactured right here in Argentina.

 

 

 



We jumped back into the van and drove across Buenos Aires, being guided by our faithful GPS, Adelina.  It took us about 45 minutes and towards the end of the trip we wondered if Adelina knew where she was headed, but Sister Knapp and I have been to Villa Amelia for Open Chapel purposes and were relieved when things started to look familiar.

We were greeted by a delightful staff of workers at this Bishops' Storehouse.  The directors are Brother and Sister Ahumada.  They were so fun and anxious to welcome us to their little facility.  It is located in 4 rooms of an LDS Church house.  It is run just as the other one is, where workers must first work for two hours before they are allowed to have their food orders filled.  Sometimes if a member is ill or unable to work, a family member can work for them.  Sometimes this is not a member of the church and they told us that there have been many great missionary experiences as a result of this kind of service within families.  Brother Garcia and Sister Lasso are not members of the church due to strict rules regarding divorce, which prohibits baptism.  They are anxiously awaiting approval of divorce from her first husband, so that after many years of service in the church, they can take their 16 year old daughters, who are church members to the Temple.  They are loving, kind people who volunteer at the Bishops' Storehouse every day. 





 

 

 

We learned much today about the way the Lord provides for the poor in His church in Argentina and met some of His humble, awesome servants.