Kyle Berg

Over the last few weeks, in an effort to better understand a few of my friends, I’ve been trying to learn more about the Mormon faith and the LDS Church. I have read a book, attended two classes, chatted with my friend Jonathan, and watched a video series. As part of my continuing education, last night I accompanied Jonathan to Ramos Mejía to hear a special guest. One of the members of the Quorum of Twelve, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, was visiting Argentina and stopped at this provincial church to speak to some 300-500 young people.

Not being of the Latter Day Saint faith, for me, Elder Uchtdorf was a guest speaker visiting from the United States. But for everyone else in that room, seeing and hearing him speak was an extreme privilege. My evangelical mind could not grasp the magnitude of witnessing this man speak in person, so I had to come up with a rough analogy. The best parallel I could draw was to hearing one of the 12 disciples speak during and after the time of Jesus. That’s how important this man is. To see people taking pictures and waiting to shake his hand was quite interesting. To maintain the reverence of the event, as inconspicuously as possible, I snapped two shots with my point and shoot and put it away for the evening.

He gave a simple lecture, extolling the young people to educate themselves, learn English if they could, seek marriage sooner than later, avoid pornography, and follow the teachings of the Church. It was more of a chat than a sermon. In fact, these events are called Firesides. There were a few time where having an interpreter caught him by surprise, but overall, he handled it very well. It was interesting to hear him convey the message in English, think about how I would translate it if I were on stage, and then hear the young man at his side relay the message in Spanish. I was also impressed by the number of people who understood English. I could tell because, when he would tell a joke, just as many people were laughing before the translation as afterwards.

After talking with some of Jonathan’s friends on the way out, we were fortunate to encounter a cab back to the city. Not being one for discomfort, Jonathan had decided to pay for a cab and was kind enough to offer me a free ride there and back. I may not particularly enjoy public transportation, but I definitely would not have paid the 103 pesos roundtrip to the provincia. Not only did we ride in comfort, our cab driver was very talkative and easier to understand. Later, craving Mexican food, we went to Distrito Federal in Puerto Madero. Having not eaten Mexican food in 2 1/2 months, I gorged myself on some excellent chips and salsa and tolerated what pass for burritos here in Argentina. Sharing this night with my friend and learning more about his beliefs was a pleasant experience.