Sisters in Juncal Ward at choir practice in Buenos Aires

Visit to Montevideo, Uruguay

 Veronica, assistent director of the CRE or church employment center , and I in the city square in Montevideo.  She is such an asset for the program.  What a great woman!

I am helping a sister load her things from the distribution center.  She had 2 rolling cases that she used to take the things back to people in her ward.  She had a long bus trip back.

Volunteer couple who manage the distribution center.  It's interesting that all the centers are run strictly by volunteers with strong testimonies of the gospel and a willingness to serve!

Update from Buenos Aires

Asuncion has a huge Beehive clothing that distributes temple clothing throughout the world.

Volunteers in the Almacen or distribution center in Asuncion

This little horse and cart is parked between the Temple grounds and the church offices in Asuncion.

Mark with leaders in the Church Employment Office in Asuncion, Paraguay

PEF volunteers in Asuncion.  The woman next to me is names Marlene, the same as my middle name, but pronounced, Mar le ne, which I think is beautiful.

Home teaching in Buenos Aires

We have been assigned 5 families to home teach in the "Juncal" Ward here.  We have seen 4 this week already and got home from the last visit last night at 11:00 pm, after getting lost 3 times in parts of the city where the power was out!  We were invited to share some homemade salami pizza and it was the best we have had here!  All we ever find for pizza is ham or tomotos, etc.  A lot of the ward members are either from Bolivia or Peru and live in very small apartments.  When we got back to our 700 sq. ft. apartment last night, we thought we were in a palace!

On January 8, 2010, we are having a special night where recipients of the PEFund here is Buenos Aires will come and tell their success stories.  Our purpose here is to set up a system to track the returned missionaries as soon as they come home from their missions, help them make a plan for school and employment and become successful both spiritually and financially.  This will be a great benefit for their families as well as the church.

 One of the bronzes that cover the side of the statue to San Martin.  They tell the story of what happened at that time.

Famous Statue of "Jose San Martin" who liberated Agrentina, Chile & Peru from the Spaniards in the early 19th century.  This compilation of statues is in Mendoza.  Mark is standing with Bro. Oliverno  Pres. Lucas, Dec. 3, 2010.

 Fountain in a huge park next to the university in Mendoza.

 The mission home/mission office of the Cordoba mission.  We were driving a Toyota Corolla, which is one of the biggest cars here.

 Pres. Guido Lucas and his wife, Marcela in front of their chapel in Cordoba.  This chapel will be torn down when construction for the Cordoba temple begins because the land will be used for the temple.

Cordoba temple site with the chapel behind.  The Cordoba mission home is on the right but you can't see it.

400+ year old building which has been preserved.  It's next door to the institute and employment services in Cordoba.

                                     .

This is just one a many little altars on the side of the highway where truckers 

leave a full bottle of water.  The legend, "Defunta Correa", is that a woman gave birth on the side of the 

road and died, but her baby lived by nursing from his dead mother. Inside the altar are small 

replicas of the woman with her baby lying on top of her chest.          

We bought a sheepskin from a man named "Osmar" who lives in the hills west of Cordoba.  Behind us

is a bedspread that he made of sheepskin and goatskin.

Training meeting with a ward council in the new church web page in Spanish in Cordoba.

Pres. and Sister Spitale, who was the mission president in the Bhia Blanca mission.

Self-Reliance Workshop at the Employment Center in Cordoba

          

 Mark and Linda;  Zilla and Kelly Grieves, teaching piano;  John and Charlene Hollingsworth, area doctor for all the missions; Pat and Ron Cundick, auditing.  We were on an outing in the city.

                                         

                                         

                                                           

Sunday Night

We have had a great first week in our mission and are learning a lot about to help here in Argentina.  There are other senior couples here and they have really made us feel welcome.

Mission photos

Gourneys & computer donated by LDS church to Hospital Pinero in Buenos Aires, Arg.

Members of Congreso Stake at Hospital Pinero presentation, including scouts and leaders

Mark; Dr. Ricardo Capresi-Director of Pinero Hospital;  Claudio Fernandez from the Humanitarian Dept.; Nelson Catara,  Pres. of the Congreso Stake

Leaving SLC

Provo Temple at sunset

                             

Our district in the MTC:  l to r:
Gary & Diane Morley (Tucson),  Mark & Linda, Earl & Sharon Bean (Philippines),  Gary & Carolann Maughn (Siberia), & Marv & Jill Jensen (Michigan) 

                                      

New Chapter in our lives!

We are sitting in our temporary apartment here after walking to the grocery store
and taking a taxi back with our purchases! Our apartment is tiny and we
have only 1 electric adaptor to plug in our US things, and no TV.  Dad
was given a wireless USB stick so we can be on the internet here.

We actually had a good trip down.  When we checked in at the airport
in SLC we paid for a 1st class upgrade and it was really nice.  Our
flight left almost an hour late but we got to Dallas in time to catch
the flight to BA.  The miracle happened in Dallas.  Dad went to the
American Airlines desk and tried to get an aisle seat for me.  (Our
seats were in the middle of a 5-seat row).  Anyway, Dad talked to her
and told her what we were being sent to do and she found us seats in
First Business Class!  She said, "I can tell that you are doing the
Lord's work!"  What a blessing.  It was over a 10 hour red eye flight
and I was a little worried.  Our seats actually totally reclined, we
were given soft quilts and a pillow, and great food.  It was wonderful
to get to be comfortable and sleep.

Then Pres. Arnold and his wife, Devonna, picked us up at the airport.
We spent the day at the area office and had dinner at their house last
night.  They are taking good care of us.

Today we had a pretty intense day at the area office getting info
about the PEF here and finding out that there is so much for us to
do.  We spent the morning with the head of the PEF and the afternoon
with the head of WELFARE, who has us scheduled to go to Montevideo,
Uruguay;  Ascunsion & Abundancia (up north with the Indians),
Paraguay; & Cordoba, Argentina within the next 2 weeks. We should
have cell phones in a few days but will
probably have to buy a car.  We were told that we could rent one from
the car pool here but there aren't any extra ones.  Life is very different here
for us but we are happy working together and helping do the Lord's work.

Each of our grandkids planted a tree--8 new trees total. They really worked hard and we are so proud of them.

Cousins' Camp 6-2010: We gave each kid a new journal and Izzy, Blake and Ben are writing in their journals. We hope they keep doing it!

Grandpa swimming with his 8 oldest grandkids at our ranch in New Harmony 6-2010

Claire-12, Emily-13, Mark (Grandpa), Ben-6, Izzy-6, Blake-8, (in pool) Adam-11,Josh-10, & Alex-11.  Grandpa timed each kid as he or she swam laps and Gammy took the pictures.

Linda, Ruthie McDougall, Rick & Debbie Kannard after a short hike to the waterfall in Duck Creek at the Goettsche Reunion

My cousins & I: Pat, Julia & Becky at Navajo Lake during our Goettsche family reunion, 6-18-2910

A short hike to a beautiful glacier with Marty and LuAnn Coon.

Magnificent country, wonderful friends, exciting fishing, and memorable experiences!  We were enchanted with Alaska and want to go back.