Iguazú

We traveled to the northern most part of Argentina to Igauzú falls.  It is incredible.  We had a Mission Leaders seminar with the new South American South Area Presidency.   It was such a beautiful place.   Since all the countries are still closed due to Covid we had all the Mission leaders from argentina at Igauzú and the Mission leaders from Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile meet virtually.   We had 4 days of being instructed by our Area Presidency.  They were inspiring!  It was so fun to meet the other Mission Leaders and learn from them as well.  

One of the days we toured the waterfalls.  It is hard to put into words how unbelievable it is in person.  The pictures do not do it justice.  There are hundreds of  waterfalls and then the largest is called the Devils throat.  It is massive and hard to describe.

  

As we were taught by our leaders and then watching the grandeur and turbulent waterfalls pour over the cliffs I thought of President Nelsons October talk where he said "Let us not just endure this current season. Let us embrace the future with faith that turbulent times are opportunities to thrive spiritually".  This really rings true to me,  for the last 2 months we have felt like we have been in a free fall.  But we have also witnessed so many miracles and felt so strongly that Heavenly Father leads this work.   Our testimony that God is in the details gets stronger everyday.  He has a plan and we just have to embrace the future as we try to keep up with what he wants us to accomplish. 

Now,  since this will be my journal and photo album of our experience enjoy the many pictures below!

A miracle that you can watch 2 separate baptisms while in the middle of the jungle

The Zuñigas - We have their daughter in our mission. 
They are the Mission Leaders over one of the Buenos Aires Missions.

View from our room

The weather was so nice!

Our friends The Slezaks breaking rules! haha

All the new Mission leaders for Argentina 

I need this giant Mate cup

train we took through the jungle

boat we took to see the waterfalls from the river 

Bariloche

Bariloche is known for its beauty and its chocolate!  They have dozens of famous chocolate stores.  We decided to buy some and see if it lived up to the fame.  IT DOES!  It was very good and I can't wait to go back and get some more!  hahaha  Also Argentina is known for its pasta so we found a great pasta restaurant and also took our friend Marisa out to lunch and you can see Argentina loves their meat!  

 

Snow

 We had another round of zone conferences and this time we had our Zapala zone meet in Bariloche.  The morning of zone conference we woke up to Snow!  It was so hard to wrap your head around snow in August.  We are below the equator so our seasons are opposite to the United States.  Winter starts in June and fall comes in September.  But to have snow and know it is august and far from Christmas was very strange.  It was fun for all our Argentinians who for some this was the first snow they had ever seen.

Our assistants Elder Gimenez & Elder Jaurez

We traveled back to Neuquén and had our 2nd zone conference and everyone got to meet our new Los Refuerzos, Elder Gomez.  Our office Elders did so much work for both Conferences.  They set up all the technology, arrange the rides (Missionaries don't ride the bus in Argentina because of the pandemic) and order all the food.  Thanks to them everything goes very smoothly.  This picture shows how organized the food is!  

Southern Part of the Mission

Andes Mountains that separate Argentina and Chile

   

El Bolsón

 We drove 9 hours from Neuquén, through the north part of the Patagonia, followed the Andes Mountain range that separates Argentina and Chile and through a little town in the southwest of the Río Negro Province called El Bolsón.  We thought that we would continue traveling through the Andes but were very surprised to be driving in a high desert, on a dirt road headed south for hundreds of miles.  I was just thinking how crazy our life is right now.  We were in the middle of nowhere, no cell service and in a foreign country, until out of nowhere we ended up in a beautiful little town in a valley surrounded by mountains, lakes and rivers called Esquel and is on the border of Argentina and Chile.  Esquel and Trevelin (20 Miles further south) is the very end of our mission in the province of Chubut.   They have 2 branches that we went to visit.  The little town was VERY busy.  We found out that it was an Argentinian holiday called “Childs day”.  They buy presents for their children and celebrate with a three-day weekend.  (sounded like Christmas to me hahaha) 

 

Esquel

We found a great little restaurant that served Argentina Pizza which is delicious.   They have very interesting toppings to choose from for example eggs, green olives & Jamón (thinly sliced ham like lunch meat) & fainá, a dense chickpea pancake like a dry piece of baked polenta.  

 

The Branch had a new Sister missionary that had been doing her MTC at home and needed to be set apart as a new missionary.  She is heading off to Mendoza, Argentina.  Steve gives a message in every ward or branch we visit and this time I also had to give a talk in Spanish……. I am getting used to having to say a few words.  I have a few small talks on my iPad, and they are all ready to read at any given moment!  

Everywhere we travel the people of Argentina are so warm and friendly.  Esquel was no different.  We are excited to go back in the Spring…..which we heard starts in September! Trevelin has campo de tulipanes one of the many touristy things to do. It looks BEAUTIFUL!  

 

Sister Missionaries

 Wow! I love Sister missionaries!  We have the best missionaries I am sure of it.  We are starting another round of interviews.  Steve interviews the missionaries every 6 weeks.  Today were the interviews for all the Sisters in the Neuquén zone.  It was such a wonderful afternoon. While he interviews them, I talk with their companions.  Today he was running late so I had a group of sister missionaries to talk with.  They were helping me with my Spanish, singing songs and telling me how the Lord had helped them this last month.  Beautiful stories of faith, miracles and testimonies.  They are beautiful girls inside and out.  I am still struggling with my spanish but everyday I understand a few more words.  The Sisters are so patient with me!  Lucky for me Sister Zuñiga speaks English so she can translate a little for me.  She was originally assigned to England so that is when she started learning English.  We just got the letter last week that she will finish her service in our mission.  She is such a great example of serving where ever the lord needs her.  She said she was excited to stay and serve with us.   I am sure one of the reasons the lord is keeping her here for me.      

Sister Zuñiga

Our Cute Cipoletti (that is their area) sisters made us these delicious cookies!

A Busy Weekend

 

We had a busy weekend!  We had our first official Argentina Asado at the mission home.  Asado is the technique AND social event of having a BBQ.  The bbq the meat on a bed of wood coals that they cook in a special fireplace out in the back yard.  President Paredes (one of Steve’s counselors) prepared it and we were able to have 3 of our 5 Stake Presidents and their wives join us.  What wonderful people we have met since we have been in Argentina.  

 

 

The next night we had a dinner for another “Los Fieles”.   We celebrated Elder Cuya with a Pennington Favorite, Swiss Cheese Chicken and Mash Potatoes.   All the Elders enjoyed the North American food.  Maybe Elders enjoy everything……… hahaha. Elder Cuya signed the quilt and is now on his way home to Peru.  We haven’t known Elder Cuya very long, so it was good to hear stories about what a great companion and missionary he has been.   What a great example of working hard and seeing miracles. He told us that when he first arrived to the mission he baptized a family and yesterday was able to go back to that same ward and see the family. They are active and enjoying the blessings of the gospel. What a beautiful way to end your mission. Thank you Elder Cuya for your service! We will miss him!  We are now down to 42 missionaries.  

 

Great Things!

FIRST great thing ...... Our missionaries just started to get the vaccine!  Yay!!  This will really help Argentina!  What a blessing!

            

SECOND great thing....... I got mail from my cute grandkids!  Before I left I made a little letter writing kit for each family.  It has envelopes already addressed with International stamps on them,  paper, pens, stickers and everything they would need to write a letter.  Estella & Dru sent them the day we left on our mission and 5 weeks later they arrived in the mail!!!  YAY!!  Now I have great pictures for my fridge! And now you all have my address and can write me! haha