Independencia

Man I love the 4th of July. I never thought I would be so patriotic until I left the United States. Haha. No I've always loved the 4th of July. If only for the good American breakfast one usually eats that morning. Our 4th here in Argentina was a little different... The facts were these:

Thursday afternoon after studies, Hna. Tello and I had to run to the terminal to get on the bus to El Colorado. We couldn't afford to not divisions again. El Colorado is a janky little town right on the border of Chaco and Formosa provinces. It's so cute! I love it. I spent Friday working with Hermana Ostler. It was a blast. Divisions are always great. And we had a lot of fun. The only bus back to Resistencia was supposed to leave at 4:45 on Saturday morning, and Hna. Tello and I had planned to take it so we could be back in our area with enough time to finalize all the details for Lucas' baptism. Buuutttt... we missed the bus. Haha. Nice work. The next bus wasn't going to leave until 2 in the afternoon. Great. Luckily, we found some taxi driver to take us down to San Martín, the other janky little town next door. The taxi guy told us there would be a bus leaving from San Martín to Resistencia at 10 AM. Perfecto. But upon arriving in San Martín, we learned that such a bus did not exist. Boo. We continued asking around. I asked one taxi driver if he went to Resistencia and he said yes. "Oh great!" I said. "How much is the trip?" "720 pesos..." Are ya KIDDIN me?? Thought he could rip me off just because I'm Gringa. Nice try pal. I'm not stupid.

We ended up waiting until 2 anyway to take the bus back to Resistencia. We didn't get back until around 5:15 and the baptism was at 6! We rushed to make ourselves look presentable and finishing filling the font before the program started at 6. Only just making it on time. It was a stressful day. But in the end, the fact that Lucas was baptized made it all worth it.

Lucas Baptism

It has been a privilege, teaching Lucas. He's really special. I've only known him for a couple of weeks, but already, I can see the difference the Gospel has made in his life. That has been the best part of the mission thus far: seeing the Gospel change lives. Because it does. Yesterday, Lucas even got up and bore his testimony in Sacrament meeting. It was great. He's such a champ.

Me, Hermana Tello and Lucas

Besides losing a lot of time in the area this week thanks to divisions, it was a great week. There's just something awesome about seeing someone take that step to get baptized. Even just between Saturday before the baptism to now, there's a huge change in Lucas. And it's awesome.

Awkward Selfie

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for next week's adventures.

Con amor, Hermana Hein