Rocio Update

Recently I wrote about coming into contact with a girl I baptized while I was a missionary in Argentina. Since then I've had several conversations with her by e-mail. I've tried to call but unbeknownst to her their phone company blocks international calls by default so I haven't been able to talk to her and her family yet. But here are some of the updates that she's told me about.

Her family has changed a lot.

Before:


The mom and dad, Maria and Omar, are on the left. Ayelen is the five year old on the bottom left. Rocio is standing next to her. I'm in the middle holding Ayelen's twin, Sabrina. On the right hand side from top to bottom is Marcelo, Gisel, and Lucas.

Now:


Top row from the left: Sabrina, Rocio, Ayelen, Gisel
Bottom row from left: Maria, Lucas

The oldest brother, Marcelo, was a really cool guy and stuck around for most of the discussions, but was never baptized. He died about seven years ago from a heart condition. Shortly after his death the father, Omar, was baptized hoping to find comfort in his son's death but didn't find it and went inactive shortly afterwards. Gisel got married to a member when she was 16. They have three daughters (Ornella (7), Bianca (5), and Malena (2)) and have gone inactive. Rocio is still very strong in the church. She is the young women's president and the stake single adult activities director. She's preparing to go to the temple. Lucas has been baptized (he was only 7 when we taught the family) and gone inactive, though he still talks about wanting to serve a mission. The twins, Sabrina and Ayelen, are both active and love that their older sister is their young women's president. Maria, the mom, is still strong in the church. She was inactive when we met her and was the only member of the family. She is now a counselor in the Relief Society and has been to the temple. She suffers from the same heart condition as Marcelo and so Rocio doesn't want to leave on a mission for fear something will happen to her mom while she is gone.

Through my conversations with Rocio I've also discovered that another lady we baptized, Feliza, died about three years ago. She stayed active until she died, and had even gone to the temple. Here's a picture of her just before she was baptized: