The Family Cow

¡Hola!

¡¡FELIZ LUNES!! This week I have been loving the weather here as it feels like SPRING!! If it really stays like this I will be super happy since winter here was definitely NOTHING compared to Idaho/Utah. Everyone told me that July is the worst month so I am hoping that is true. My comp said that last year in August they had Polar Week... I am not exactly sure what weather that entailed but definitely does not sound fun so I am hoping and praying that we do not have that this year as well.

Everything is going great here in Cuidad Evita. It´s fun because a ton of people here speak english so I get to hear it more often. Our Bishop is pretty much fluent I think and yesterday we were having ward council and he described an interview that he had as a "face to face". I laughed and everyone else asked, "What does that mean?" Sometimes when people only say one or two words in english I have to think really hard about if they really said it in english or if I just translated it in my head.... Definitely a blessing to be learning another language.

This week I had an interesting experience with my comp. She was always calling our investigators "vacas" or cows and I had no idea why. I was guessing that it might be because they were lazy... or for their weight... ha ha I was really a bit confused as to the exact meaning. Then this week she asked me if I knew what it meant when she said that and I confessed that I did not. She then related the following story to me. I think that I have heard it before but it was good to hear it again so here you all go.

There was once a family that was very poor. Their most prized and honestly only possesion was the family cow. This cow was their primary means of food to help them survive. Many of the townspeople were very concerned and were trying to think of ways to help them, but no one could come up with a solution for this family. Then one young man thought to ask one of the wisest men in the town. The response of the wise man was, "It´s simple, kill the cow". "What?", thought the young man, "How can that be the solution? That cow is all that they own". But he knew that the man was very wise so he went and got the family cow out of the pasture and pushed it off a cliff. At the time the family was devestated and the young man left the poor family alone, certain that he had done more harm than good. Many years later, the same young man returned to where the poor family had once lived. But now he found a grand house with cars, running water, and electricity where once had stood the shack and pasture of the poor family. He knocked on the door and asked the family living in the house what had happened to the poor family that had once lived on this land. Their response was that this was the exact same family and when the man inquired as to how they had gained all that they had now they replied, "Some lunatic came and pushed our cow off the cliff and we all had to go out and get jobs to provide for our family".

I love this story because how many of us are content with our current situation and our own "family cow"? Almost every day I talk with people that think they have everything and that there is nothing that I could possibly offer them. They are content to live with their "cow" when in reality I am trying to offer them the riches of eternity. It´s also made me think about the blessings as members of the church that we are missing out on because we are clinging too tight to our "family cow" and are not willing to work to improve ourselves and our situations while we are in this life. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that offers us a happier and a better life, but we have our agency to chose if we want to accept it or not. I know that only through Christ and his atonement can we find lasting peace and happiness in this life and live with our families forever in the world to come.

In closing I have a funny story to share with you. The other night we were walking to our apt and it was pretty dark and as we passed this house a dog started barking and running for us. I was a few steps ahead of my comp so I started screaming bloody murder and running. When my comp passed the opening in the fence out marched probably one of the most tame and gentle dogs in argentina (it looked a little bit like reo but was probably a little smaller). She continued to mock and laugh at me for about the next hour because she is always the one that is freaking out about the dogs and usually I am not afraid of them... I guess I am only afraid of the tame ones. :)

I love you all TONS!!!

Think about you often, pray for you always, and love you forever!

Hna Scanlon

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Hey All -

Cali here. So, we are currently experiencing a picture drought (I've resorted to cartoon cows!). Hna Scanlon promises to get us some this next week. Until then, I have found some maps of Argentina and specifically her mission, so we can get a better idea of where she is.

And here's a photo collage I found on a Buenos Aires Mission Blog that has Jordan in it: