Interesting happenings!

On Friday, May 20, we attended the wedding of the son of a family that we home teach, Jaime and Mari Rivera.  The wedding was at the "Registro Civil" or civil registry here in Buenos Aires.  The wedding couple are in the middle.  The judge actually talked to them about responsilbity, raising children (because she is having a little boy in 2 months) and had the fathers give the couple advice.  She is not a member but had said she will take the missionary lessons and we will be able to be there. 

Mari Rivera and her sister, Linda, and Mari's friend, as we wait to be called in with the wedding party.

Jaime Rivera, Mark, the missionaries (the american is from Dallas) and Jaime's son, Lucas.

We went to Asuncion, Paraguay to see the new Perpetual Education Fund office that is almost finished.  We stayed with Elder Alan and Sister Vicki Lucas, who are PEF missionaries there and doing a fantastic job watching over the participants of the program and teaching.  We were able to visit the Asuncion, Paraguay temple on Friday, May 13.

Alan and Vicki told us that there was a good Mexican Restaurant in Asuncion.  We haven't found one yet in Buenos Aires, so we were anxious to go there.  We took the bus and had a really good meal.  Wasn't quite what we were used to they had corn tortillas and it was very good and spicy.

This was taken out of the bus window on the was to the Mexican Restaurant Azteca in Asuncion.  Paraguay was celebrating their 200 year anniversary (bicentenario) of independence from Spain, so it was a big weekend there.

Alan and Vicki took this from across the street.  We were all waiting for the bus or "colectivo"  to go  eat Mexican food for lunch.  It was really hot that day, 90 degrees F and we were sweating sitting there in the sun.  We definitely have a new appreciation for our son, Matt, who served his mission in Paraguay.  It's winter in Buenos Aires, but still hot in Paraguay.  (I guess I better say we have a new appreciation for our son Caleb too, because he served in Brazil near the equator!

Vicki and I in front of the President's palace with it's decorations for the bicentenario.  Behind the palace is the Paraguay River.

The deck of the ship, Uruguay, which sits in Puerto Madero harbor of Buenos Aires.  It's an old metal ship and has an interesting history and is a landmark of Argentia history.

The ship, Uruguay, in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires.

The CRE, or church employment center in Asuncion.  Elder Lucas is training the stake employment specialists in the Perpetual Education Fund.

Missionaries leaving church in Lima, Argentina, part of the Zarate Stake, where we visited one Sunday.

Mark  at the pulput in the chapel in Lima.

The chapel in the branch in Lima, Argentina.  

The Lanzas, the Olazabels, and the Cruzados at our apartment for dinner.  We enjoy home teaching the Lanzas and the Olazabels.  Juan Cruzado works at the area office with us and all of them are in our ward, the Juncal Ward.

May 10 Update, con't Trip to LuAnn, Arg. with the other senior missionaries.

The big attraction in Lujan (about an hour away from BA) is the cathedral which was built in honor of the Virgin Mary.  A few hundred years ago, a small statue of the Virgin Mary fell out of a wagon in a certain place and the legend says that it wouldn't be moved.  So the town build a cathedral to house the statue.  Then many of the countries of the world sent their own statues of the Virgin Mary, which are all housed in the basement of the church.  I felt that the church had a bad feeling in it, especially in the basement.  

This is the good one!  These are all scarfs from boy scouts with the Argentina flags on the sides.  I guess the boy scouts  exist here, but I have only see one ward that had some cub scouts.  

This is where you get sprinkled with holy water...bendiciones (blessinsgs)

Bring your bottle and fill it up with holy water.

After leaving Lujan, we went to a little town called "Carlos Keen".  We stopped in at a restaurant and they took us in the back to see their grill.  We were really impressed with the variety of meats, many of which we would not have been brave enough to eat, even if we had stayed and eaten there.  We just wanted a lite dinner, but they wanted to serve us a full meal, so we ended up leaving.  

That's a rabbit spread-eagle!

These 2 pictures show the grill.

Rebecca Blanchette, John and Sharlene Hollingsworth and Zella Grieve at the market.

Rebecca made a friend.  It was a fun P-day with our missionary friends and really nice to get out into the country!

May 10 Update, Zarate Stake Relief Society Anniversary celebration, plus funny picture of me.

The first Saturday of April, the Zarate Stake had their RS celebration and really did a great job.  They had a family history fair.  These sisters are in the Stake Relief Society and set everything up.  I got to play the piano a while before it too, but then couldn't got because Mark was doing a training for the bishops and branch presidents with the stake president upstairs.  

Someone made this cake for the celebration.  It says, "Families Can Be Eternally through the Divine Plan", page 195 in the Spanish hymnbook.  (our hymn, Families Can be Together Forever".)

This sweet sister came by bus from San Pedro, which is an hour away.  We are visiting each one of the units in the Zarate Stake for the next 2 months. These members have a lot of challenges and I really admire the faitihful ones.

Sisters in the Zarate Stake.

This is unrelated, but Mark and I did a Family Home Evening at the apartment of a sweet young woman, Judith, who we home teach.  She is a college student here in BA and a new convert as of last November, 2010.  This is her friend, who is also a member, and they are trying to get me to like Mate, the national drink.  Everyone drinks it here morning and night it seems.  It tastes like grass or hay to me!  The family home evening went really well.  There were 2 non-members there, Judith's mother and another friend from college.  The missionaries were there for a while, but had to leave by 9 pm to get home.  FHE went another hour after that.  The people here really stay up late here and don't even start to eat dinner until 9 or 9:30.  Restaurants are filled up at 11:00 pm when Mark and I are asleep!

May 10, 2011 Update, trip to Montevideo, Uruguay, to go to the temple.

The senior missionaries at the Area Office took a trip to the temple in Montevideo, Uruguay in March.  We took the Buquebus, a ferry, from Buenos Aires to the port in Montevideo.  As we came into the harbor, we passed by some of the ships of the Uruguaian navy.  I thought they were quite old but interesting.

We took taxis to the home of one of the mission presidents, where we stayed overnight.  Here is Mark and Sister Cundick.  She are her husband, Ron, are working with the Audits.  They are from Leeds, Utah, not far from our ranch in New Harmony.

We actually got a view of the beach.  This is still the La Plata River but partly mixes with the Atlantic Ocean .  We could see places where the brown river flowed through a little blue ocean. Buenos Aires is on this river, not on the ocean, and all the beaches are brown sand.  We were delighted to see these beaches!

Sister Rebecca Blanchette and I in the taxi.  We were all so excited to be going to the temple because the temple in Buenos Aires, which is the only temple in Argentina, has been closed for a couple of years due to remodeling.  Due to some problems with importation for foreign goods, it's not going to open for quite a while, maybe another year.  

Sister Marianne Anderson and I in front of the Montivideo temple. The temple, temple missionary housing, a stake center, a huge hostel for visitors, church offices, the distribution center, and the homes of the 2 mission presidents are all in the block that makes up the Temple block.  The flowers, shrubbery and trees were so beautiful there.  It was like being in heaven, especially since we could spend a lot of time in the temple.

Mark with the director of the CRE (Church Employment Center) in Montevideo.

Our new PEF employee, Laura, in front of one of the beautiful fountains in Montevideo.

We were so happy to get to visit here.  Mark with Ron Cundick and the sisters outside the offices of the CRE.

Having lunch in Montevideo.  From left to right:  Laura, Marianne, Rebecca, me, Mark, Daniel Colotta, John and Sharlene Hollingsworth (from Cardston, Canada, and Pat and Ron Cundick.

There is a wonderful outdoor market on the weekends in Montevideo in the old city.  

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Getting ready to go home to BA.  Rebecca was so excited because she bought a picture of Joseph Smith for her bedroom back in BA.

We had a 2 hour bus ride to Colonia, Uruguay, where we caught another Buquebus back to BA.    Uruguay is really a beautiful country.  

This is the door to the old part of the city of Montevideo.