Finding old Baptism Friends and Weddings - So cool!

I have written about the Orellana family who we have seen each time they have come to the temple.  They were the first family baptized in La Banda.  Another family that left a big impression on me was the Quinteros family.  They were the first family I got to teach and see baptized.  

I was in my first area with my first companion, Elder Clark, in Godoy Cruz, Mendoza early in 1970.  It had been a very difficult week, and we had both worked very hard with very little success to show for all of our efforts.  We had no contacts and so we had tracked all day with no success.  We were walking our bikes home feeling very dejected and hoping we would spot another place to knock on a door.  In other words, it was the typical set up.  You expend your greatest effort with no avail and then the Lord does His work and places a family in your path. 

The whole wonderful Rostelli family with the new bride

Elder Clark was ahead of me and I was looking at the ground when two young women walked up behind me and spoke.  I stopped and one of them asked if we were missionaries.  I said yes.  I was not sure what to do next and hesitant to schedule anything since we had been told to never seek out young women.  I was offering some of our pamphlets when my companion looked back and hurried back to rescue me and we ended up scheduling a meeting for the next day.  We worried all night and asked every member we could think of to go with us to the visit.  In the end, we were by ourselves and decided it only the girls were there we would reschedule when we could have a member with us.  We got there and the mother and younger sister were there so we had the whole family, sister Quinteros, Anna, Adriana, and Mabel. 

the happy couple

another wedding pic

Some families that you meet as a missionary really make an impression on you.  The Quinteros was one of these families.  They were committed and were active from the beginning.   Sister Quinteros was wise and kind.  I started my mission in Godoy Cruz and ended it as the district leader in the same place.  I got to see how they had progressed after nearly two years.

The Buenos Aires temple is a beautiful background

I met Carlos Aguerro when he was translating for Elder Cook.  He was very good at it and I spoke to him at the break.  He said I know you.  I thought how could he know me.  He asked where I had been and it turn out he was in the Godoy Cruz ward when I came back the second time.  He knew the Quinteros family very well and he was going to Mendoza soon so he told me he would look them up and give them my contact info.  Adriana and I exchanged emails and then I called her and we spoke for the longest time.  Their youngest son was getting married soon and they were all coming to the temple in Buenos Aires for their temple sealing.  We got to spend three days with her wonderful family.  Her husband was the first councilor in the Mendoza Mission presidency and I would have gotten to work with him if we had gone there.

I got a car and we met them at their hotel and took them to the temple Nov 28 2013.  I got to take a lot of pictures of the wedding and it was so much fun.

The next day they came by the office and we went out to eat.  The following day we went to the historic Boca Soccer Field and then came back to our place to walk in the park and finally send them off to the airport.

This is the soccer field for Boca Jr. team in Buenos Aires

Adriana told me some of the rest of the story.  Her grandmother had been a Catholic but decided it was no longer living the precepts of the gospel and joined a protestant church.  She later decided that they also were not living the precepts of the Bible.  Sister Quinteros had grown up with this background.  She had married and had her three daughters and had also visited different religions.  There had been some recent family problems and a protestant church was being built across the street from them.  She told her daughters that they needed to be a part of a church and to find one or they would likely attend the one across the street.  That was why they approached us.

The whole family is amazing.  Anna had worked to support the family and for Adriana and Mabel to go on full time missions.  They had all served as ward missionaries very actively.  Anna was married to the other councilor in the Mendoza mission presidency and Mabel is married to a man she converted and his current calling is the area auditor for the church. Adriana’s three children had all gone on missions and her oldest two had graduated from universities in the US.