Christmas Sunshine

December 2014 in Argentina began with very hot weather.  The locals could not believe how quickly the summer weather hit.  Walking to work and to the subway station left us wondering why we had bothered with the morning shower.  The humidity has kept us warm, moist and uncomfortable.  There is not central air conditioning in most of the buildings and chapels.  It may be a long summer.

In the Open Chapel work we had a record 30 open chapels in the Area in November.  There are some really dedicated Elders and Sisters in all of the missions in the other countries where the program is going-Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay.  There are 10 couples working in 10 missions all in all and the work is going forward very well.  It is a challenge to keep them stocked in materials and to consolidate the reports for Salt Lake City each month, but it is also fun to know that on the weekend we are all out there striving to do our best to “invite others to Christ.”

We were excited to have a mission president call and thank us for our efforts with the Open Chapel program which had resulted in some baptisms and teaching opportunities for his missionaries.  We also had a fun Open Chapel in the rain in a place called Escobar and learned from missionaries working there that there were two other baptisms as a result of an Open Chapel that we held earlier in November.

We were invited to the End of the Year party for the Palermo Ward, where we would attend if we were not on assignment each Sunday.  It was great.  It started at 8:00 and we got there a little bit late, so we missed out on setting up the tables and chairs, but we did get to help decorate and set tables and greet members as they came.  Finally at 9:30 the Bishop, our adopted son, Pablo, started the party with a prayer and we were eating by 10:00.  We went with the Hunters, who are also assigned to that ward and work in the legal department as missionaries.  We had to gobble down the grilled chicken and the salads that we had brought in order to catch the subway home by 11:00 PM.

We went to the airport early on Tuesday, Dec. 16 to pick up Elder and Sister Roth.  They are from Massachusetts and will be serving as the Assistant Executive Secretaries to the Area Presidency.  They are such great people.  We really clicked right from the start.  When Sister Roth mentioned that she is not a shopper she really made points with Sister Knapp!  We spent the next few days trying to get them oriented and trained in their new assignment which will be much of what we have done. 

We had hoped to be able to remember some of our favorite people at Christmas this year, and so we gave out personalized copies of the Book of Mormon to our favorite little man in the bakery who gave Janet a kiss and now hugs her every time we shop there.  We gave another to the young man who is the cashier at the convenience store next door.  We wrapped another one and put it in a bag with crocheted Christmas stockings and homemade fudge and gave it all to Horacio-the man who is the guard here at the apartment complex where we live.  We also gave one to the little man who has a magazine stand next to McDonalds.  We hope that it will be read by at least some of them.

Janet made a Christmas tree out of small cinnamon rolls that we took to the Bishop and his family with a children’s scripture story book of the New Testament for his boys.  We also took fudge and crocheted stockings filled with life saver rolls to the other missionary couples.  The funniest thing was hearing the song “Sleigh Bells”- in English, playing in the stores.    Seriously….a song about snow when it’s 90 degrees and so humid you can’t stand it!

We enjoyed a fun Christmas Eve party with the other senior missionary couples where we had soups and salads.  We sang Christmas carols and read the Christmas story, exchanged goodies and then had a white elephant gift swap.  It was fun, and we gave away our green knitted hats, which everyone wanted.

On Christmas Janet roasted a turkey in our tiny oven.  It was not much bigger than a chicken, but it was very expensive down here and it tasted really good.  She spoiled me with a pumpkin chiffon pie and stuffing!  Later in the day we spoke with my dad and JoLyn and they said it was snowing in Idaho Falls.  We had made a Skype Schedule and visited with each of our children and their families after that.  Darin, Ashlee, and Max are in Connecticut with her family enjoying the rainy weather.  Katie and her family were excited to get the snow to play on their new snow machines.  Janie and the Harts recovered from the breakdown of their vehicle with a new van for Christmas.  Monsons were headed to a cabin to play in the snow.  Doug and the Knapps in Utah, were lounging around recovering from their final show in the playhouse.  Krista was trying to figure out how to use her new “tablet” and all of them were decked out in BYU gear and playing new games.  The Meservys were almost unrecognizable in their new “super heroes” outfits.  They seemed so excited to show us their super hero figures, while Annie and Grant looked on.  We have such a great family and are so blessed to be part of such a great group!

We made a final trip to the Buenos Aires Temple this year as missionary couples.  We saw a different presentation than we had seen before that enlightened and taught us all.  So much for 2014, we have met so many wonderful new friends, shared our testimonies of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ often and spent many hours involved in the behind-the-scenes daily work that keeps the Area Office running.  It has been great to participate in building the kingdom of God here in Argentina!

Christmas fun...Newest missionaries with "our" green hats! Good food, Open Chapel, Temple trip with Couples. Turkey with watermelon for Christmas dinner!

Yes, they do have Christmas trees in Argentina.  We like ours the best! With Roths in Belgrano, at the Pink House and in the Galerias Pacifico mall.

A November to remember

Scenes from November 2014   Can you match the picture to the caption below?

1.  Bs. As. advertises for a special conference at the local center.  (La Rural)
2.  We unpack at our new offices just a couple of blocks  from the Pink House, like our White House)
3.  Enjoying the shade after spending the day riding horses in 90 degree weather.
4. Head Gaucho (Argentine cowboy) Cirilo, took us for a wagon ride!
5. Other office where we have an extra assignment to coordinate work for area service missionaries.

1.  Are you sleeping in that box?
2.  Apostle speaks at a devotional for area employees and missionaries.
3.  Gaston baptized after church on Sunday.
4.  Sheet advertisement made by youth for the Capilla Abierta (open chapel) in Savio
5. At the referral table with no electricity before the lights went out!

November went by so fast.  But as we ponder on what we usually think about in this month (Thanksgiving), we are so grateful for the many blessings we have. We have had some special moments....seeing a young man baptized, hearing one of our dear friends sing in the musical production of Joseph Smith- the prophet of the restoration, and having some great open chapels.  The most recent open chapel was in the dark because of a huge rainstorm and no power; but there were over 100 people who came out!  We shared a Thanksgiving dinner with the other senior missionaries at a restaurant called Kansas.  But most of all we thought of you and how much we love and miss you and how blessed we are to be serving as missionaries here in Argentina.

Spring brings kids and Iguazu Falls

Springtime in Buenos Aires is so beautiful with the purple trees lining the streets and the roses all out in bloom in the park. Within just a couple of blocks of our apartment is the beautifully famous Rosedal garden with its hundreds of different colors and sizes of roses. We also enjoy admiring the huge Ombu tree that is unique to this area.  There is one so big that it takes up an entire city block.   We walk around there as often as we can once work in the office has been completed for the day.

 

 

We had visits to some great wards in October for our Open Chapel program.  We visited Paso del Rey where 2 little girls, Melisa and Jazmin, took charge of the Primary presentation and did a great job!  We also had an amazing experience at Floresta where Sister Knapp met a Sister Cal who was a member in that ward when Janet served there.  Elder Knapp was also surprised to have a visit from a Sister Rico, now 80 years old, who served as the Relief Society President when he was Branch President in a little branch down in Bariloche, near the Chilean border 43 years ago!  What a blessing to find these dear friends after all of those years.  We had a great Open Chapel in Parque Avellaneda, our first morning Open Chapel, which was held at 10:00 and there were 132 visitors present, with over 60 non-members.  Then the other day at the office a brother told us that in a ward called Marilo as a result of the Open Chapel that we did there, they have had 4 families reactivated and 2 families baptized!  Exciting!

 

 

What a great day we had on October 14 when Amy, Doug, Krista and Katie all came to visit us!  We were just like little kids on Christmas Eve and could hardly sleep the night before they arrived!  We had so much fun for the next 6 days!  We rode the train, a boat, the subway, the mini-van, and the buses.  We ate much delicious beef, great bread, and ice-cream.  We walked many miles each day and saw some pretty amazing sites that are unique to Argentina. I think that one of their favorites was the Teatro Colon (Columbus Theater) tour.   Our apartment guard invited us to a spectacular cookout on the roof of the building where we live and grilled an amazing Sunday dinner for us.  The kids sang in Sacrament Meeting (in Spanish) and there was a powerful hush that settled over the people as they were amazed at how pretty the music was.  The bishop said that in General Conference he had noticed 4 vacant seats in the Tabernacle Choir and was sure that it was these 4 Knapp children getting ready to come to Argentina.  One young lady came up afterward and said that their song was an answer to her prayers!  Their visit was over way too soon, but we packed in everything we could and loved it all.

 

President Walter Gonzalez asked us to attend the Mission Presidents seminar to translate for the presidents’ wives who do not speak Spanish.  We agreed and were excited to learn that the conference was to be held in Iguazu, which comes from a Paraguay Indian group meaning “Big Water”.  That is an understatement!  There are 275 water falls in this national park which includes parts of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.  It is magnificent and is considered one of the wonders of the world.  We stayed at a Sheraton Hotel right inside the park and went out each day on a different trail.  We also enjoyed a boat ride down the Parana River which took us underneath the falls and we were drenched 5 different times, it was a blast!  The conference was just as spectacular inside as outside.  All 3 of our presidency members are from the first quorum of seventy and it was just like being in General Conference for 3 days as they and their wives taught us from the scriptures how to do the work of the Lord here in South America gathering the posterity of Lehi.  On Tuesday I translated 12 talks without notes.  Janet frantically found scriptures and helped me get words right, but I was beat at the end of the day!  The other 2 days were not as intense.  I prayed really hard that the sisters got the message intended by the presidency!

Just before the conference President Jorge Zeballos met with us and called us to oversee the work of the service missionaries for the four countries in our Area.  There are 346 of them currently serving and this is bound to be a great opportunity to get acquainted with some more pretty amazing people!  We love it!

Life in Argentina

Janie spent a few days with us recently and it was awesome!  She helped us remember some of the things that we have grown accustomed to that are not part of our life back in Idaho.  Here are some of them--

The huge Ombu tree (yes, it is all one tree), Pope Francis (who has pictures everywhere), the hallway in our apartment building, beautiful trees always in bloom, skyscraper neighbors

Janie drinking mate' (they all do), us at the Temple, sidewalk graffiti (the Beatles), yellow bikes (free transportation anywhere in the city), the green bridge (landmark on our way to the office where trains pass overhead and the homeless sleep underneath)

Cement chairs on the corner by Jumbo Department Store, steak,(no need to ask "Where's the beef?" in Argentina), the South America South Area Office entrance (home away from home), riding on the train--butt seats

There you have a few of the things that are part of our everyday experience that you might find different from what you are used to.  We are anxious for Spring which started today and hope you are all easing into Autumn.

A New Record!

August has been an exceptionally busy month for us as far as the number of Open Chapels we have done as well as trainings.  We had 7 Open Chapels with 5 trainings.  It was great! 

The Vazquez family originally from Argentina that we met in Idaho Falls recently returned to Argentina to live.  Santiago Vazquez had been our Branch President in the Mesa Branch back home.  We loved his family.  They always called us their North American grandparents.  We were blessed to have a little time to visit with them here in Buenos Aires before they headed off to Mendoza.  In the church the world is so small.  A man that we work with in the office, rents his home from Santiago Vazquez’ father.  We also met a bishop in the Vicente Lopez ward who was good friends with Santiago and knows his wife, Eliana.

Vazquez Family

 

August 16, 17, & 18 we had an Open Chapel in different parts of Buenos Aires.  That is the most we’ve had on one weekend.  We were so impressed with the bishop in the Atalaya Ward.  He delivers mattresses for a living.  We never met his wife as she didn’t come to the training or the event.  But he was so humble.  In the training, he bore a strong testimony and encouraged his members to do their part.  They got behind him very well as we had over 100 visitors and 35 nonmembers come.

 

Bishop Lescano

 

The next night we had an event in Ciudadela.  This one we were happy to finally have.  It had been rescheduled about 4 times because of conflicts with the building.  Even that night we had to move to a different chapel (this building has two chapels) to accommodate a stake choir practice.  This ward meets in a building that is not in their stake boundaries so it is hard for them to schedule events.  Bishop Miguel was great.  We spoke to him many times on the phone and he was always so patient and humble.  He really wanted to do this and we think it turned out well.  The first person we met when we drove up was a young man who had just been confirmed that morning in church named Alberto.  He came to help make sure the chapel was clean and do anything else we needed done.  Doug asked him what his favorite part of the Book of Mormon was and he said he had not read it, he can’t read.  He has only learned about it through what the elders have taught him.

Alberto

The following day was a holiday and the Moron 2^nd Ward asked us to come for a special Open Chapel.  We trained them with just one week of down time for them to prepare and didn’t quite know what to expect.  It was a sunny special day for Janet and so we stopped for ice-cream at “El Caribe”.  There were lots of members there when we arrived and they were completing their displays, and cleaning the church.  Brother Marquez, who is very tall, was cleaning the windows.  He was great help all night.  The Bishop of the Ward, Bishop Aguirre, had not been a member of the church very long. During high school he had hair down to his waist and a mustache (there were pictures).  He dated a Mormon girl all of that time and when he was 18 he became interested in the church.  He read the Book of Mormon and was told to go on a mission.  He cut his hair and took institute classes for a year as he prepared for a mission.  When he turned in his papers, she cried and cried, but he knew this was what the Lord expected and so he went.  She proposed to him after he had been home 3 days and now 8 years later, they have 3 children and he is a very young Bishop.  Again the Open Chapel was great with over 100 visitors with 22 of them being nonmembers.  The bishop’s wife was so good with the investigators-staying with them on tours and helping with questions etc.

Bishop Aguirre and wife

We were able to watch Elder Bednar’s talk on social media from BYU education week.  We have felt like we needed to have our own Facebook page for our program.  There has been a link to it on the mormonesdelsur.org web page for our area; but we felt like we wanted our own page.  Working through our contact in Salt Lake and asking lots of questions of our technology specialist in the office, we finally will have an office Capilla Abierta (Open Chapel) Facebook page.  You will be able to access it by going to  www.Capilla.Abierta.SAS.  There you will see photos and see our schedule for the whole South America South Area.  Can you even believe it? …us

We, the senior missionaries, sponsored an employee appreciation day here in the Area Office.  We put up a big banner saying we appreciate them and we all brought cupcakes for all 200 of them.  It was really fun to go to all the nooks and crannys in this building delivering the cupcakes.  They were surprised, but it was great fun for us.  We love these good people in our office!

Dad enjoyed homemade butternut squash soup and chicken empanadas for his birthday dinner.  Thanks to all of you for remembering him on his special day.  He is still the baby in our group of missionaries.

We love you all and want you to know we love the Lord.  He has blessed us so much!

 

 

 

 

Winter? and the Exposition

Once a year, the Argentine farmers, cattlemen, horsemen, food producers, machinery salesmen, and leather goods venders gather at the Rural, which is a huge events center right outside our balcony for “La Exposicion”.  This is like a huge State Fair because it includes people from the entire country.  There are 10 days of horse shows, cattle shows, gaucho riding events, food and clothing demonstrations, pick-up and machinery demonstrations, and lots of empanadas eaten!  We decided to visit on our P-day and it was GREAT!  The appaloosa horses were beautiful and they had some really powerful looking Hereford bulls.  Janet didn’t enjoy looking at the pigs who were all lying on their sides and snoring, but the chickens and rabbits were entertaining!

We watched a 3-D video presentation on how everything comes from “la pampa” or the grassland.  This is where the crops are grown, the livestock lives, the machines are used, the pick-ups are needed, the gauchos work, the leather goods are produced and of course the recipes invented.  It was very entertaining and we stayed there for 3 hours.  I bought a leather belt because my K-Mart special was dead after various paint jobs with permanent marker over the cracks and creases.

A HUGE  rooster

Here's the Beef!

The Horse Show--notice the high rise apartments behind
 

Winter has been interesting.  We were expecting it to be much colder.  It is a humid kind of cold which makes it different, but we seldom take jackets, rarely use coats and the temperature usually varies in the 50s and 60s.  We see the Argentines all bundled up with their coats, scarves, gloves, and boots and wonder what they would think of a good Idaho winter.  There are no central heating systems and so many of the apartments are like ours and have radiators in the rooms that are heated by the hot water that is generated in the hot water heaters in the kitchen.  They take the chill off for the most part.

The coldest places we go are the Mormon Chapels on Sunday morning.  All meetings start at either 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. and after a few days or in some cases an entire week of no use, the buildings are like refrigerators.  Members come and stay in their coats, gloves, and scarves for the entire 3-hour block of meetings.  We usually wear an extra sweater, but the toes can get cold!

Typical Church-this is from the parking lot where maybe a dozen cars can park

 

The rains are the funnest part of the winter.  Once or twice a week it rains and it really pours.  The water just shoots our of heaven and sometimes for hours.  The streets fill and spillover onto the sidewalks which become footbaths for all of us.  Cars splash water on pedestrians and buses splash water on all!  Many people don’t bother with umbrellas and choose to be soaked.  The venders on the streets huddle under trees as their wares are drenched and anxious taxi drivers are more busy than usual hustling people about who are trying to avoid the showers.  The rain, when it is really coming down is truly awesome.  I don’t know why, but when it starts to rain like it can down here I always think of Noah!

 

We passed our one year mark of the mission on July 29th.  We can't say it has whizzed by, but at times during the month we wonder where the week has gone.  We love the work and we love the Open Chapel Program.  It has been a great missionary tool in many wards and we feel very blessed to be a part of it.  We feel very privileged to meet with Mark Lusvardi, from the Missionary Department, for lunch at the Estancia every once in a while to report on what's happening.  We are getting ready to open up a new mission in Paraguay as soon as supplies are ready.  It is so exciting to see the interest in this amazing tool to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Mark with us at the Estancia

 

World Cup to the MAX!

It has been a crazy month here in Argentina.  Life has been completely dominated by the Soccer World Cup.  Every 4 years teams from all countries play each other to earn a position as one of 32 teams invited to the finals.  The finals this year were hosted in Brazil and lots of people there were furious at how much money the government spent on stadiums (8) for this huge event.  We had not really followed the tournament before coming here, but in Argentina you really don’t have a choice.  You have to get involved!  The Area presidency brought huge TVs into the office so that all of the games involving teams from around here could be viewed, and they were.  Argentina did very well advancing through all of the rounds which meant that we saw lots of soccer games!  They have a great goalie, Romero, and the best player in the world right now, Messi, who carried the team to the final game against Germany, which Germany won 1-0.  Our favorite game was the semi-final game against Holland which Argentina won on penalty kicks.

 

Our floor during the World Cup

 

This has been a month to get better acquainted with Jorge Zeballos, a member of the 1^st Quorum of Seventy, who is directly responsible for our program.  He spoke at a special Devotional, came to our FHE, with his wife to tell us about his conversion to the Gospel and his life as a General Authority, and then had a 30 minute PPI with us where we discussed our personal experience, the Open Chapel program, and our work as District Leaders.  He is a man of great love for the Lord which just radiates from him.  We felt very understood, supported and loved as we worked with him.

Elder Zeballos in the middle with red tie

 

This month we worked with a Stake President of Chinese descent named President Wu and transferred all senior missionary couples, who work in the Area Office, into wards in his stake.  There they will be teaching the Gospel Principles class and working through technology to help retain the new converts in that ward.  They might even be asked to go out and do some visits on the weekend.  When we made the switch we treated it as a “transfer” and most of the missionaries seemed excited.  There were some that seemed a bit disgruntled, but are coming around.  Before this change most of them just went to church and sat in a corner and did very little, but this will force them into the missionary work.

The highlight of the month came as we learned of the birth of Maxwell Darin Knapp!   He joined the family on June 30, a healthy, big boy born to Darin and Ashlee out in Manhattan, Kansas, where Darin is studying to earn his PHD in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Pictures from Kansas show Max as being chubby, with lots of dark hair, a small, button nose, and beautiful, big, blue eyes.  We skyped and met him in person and he is adorable!  It was hard to keep Grandma from running down and buying a ticket to Kansas!  I would have loved to be born into that family, what a blessing for Max!

 

Ashlee, Darin, Maxwell

 

July 9 is the Independence Day for Argentina so they closed the office and we had the day off.  We decided to go and visit the Alto Palermo Mall, which is huge and filled with modern shops and stores.  We felt like we were in a building described in Lehi’s dream.  Later we went to “the Ateneo” which is an old theater that has been converted into a bookstore.  It was incredible!  The box seating has been replaced by shelves of books, but the décor has remained and all is as it was when it was a theater.  A concert pianist plays full-time and they have a section where you can sit, eat, and read.  We loved it!

 

Inside the theatre bookstore El Ateneo

 

We had a unique experience with an Open Chapel in a ward called Hurlingham.  Several people who work in our office live in this ward so it was really fun for us to get to present the program there.  Lots of good people came.  In our training on Sunday mornings we always tell our story of our being missionaries here more than 40 years ago and always having the dream to come back some day.  Dad always tells about me wanting to send in mission papers for my birthday.  The bishop was really impressed with that and said it touched him and he would always remember that when it was his time to serve a mission.

 

Bishop Lastarria and wife with us at Hurlingham

 

Bishop Lastarria and his family brought several investigators, his daughter 2 friends from school, his son a friend, and the family the bishop invited himself.  He was so excited.  The Monday following the Open Chapel we received a call from the stake president thanking us for our efforts there.  He was very excited because several of the investigators had come to church the next day after the event and sacrament attendance was the best it had ever been.  We were pleased to learn this because we don’t often get much feedback as to what happens in a ward after our presentation. 

We have been pleasantly surprised with the winter here.  It has been in the 50's and 60's.  Most of the Argentines have their coats and scarves and always talk about being cold.  We wear jackets and are loving it.  We could get used to this kind of winter!

 

 

 

 

 

La Luz de la Verdad

We have been so very busy lately and while we have been hustling somehow it is the middle of June.  We have one year to go!  There have been some pretty interesting developments at the Area Office.  We had a change of department managers that took our manager, Dante Roig, out and brought in Daniel Moreno.  We loved Brother Roig, who currently serves as a counselor in a Stake Presidency and Janet baked chocolate chip cookie bars for the office for his farewell, which they all loved.  His office was just two away from ours and we love him a bunch.  Brother Moreno was just released as an Area Seventy and will be a great new neighbor.  We also had a visit from our boss in SLC, Mark Lusvardi, who took us to dinner at a very expensive restaurant here and surprised us with the news that they are taking our program, the Open Chapel, to all of the Areas in the Church!  They will be using our banners and the instruction manuals that we have written, once they have been translated.  They will start in Brazil and then go to Africa.  We were really excited to think that this great missionary tool will be available to the Areas that choose to implement it.

A team of a dozen men from Salt Lake spent two weeks in the Office to do an audit of each department.  They were not directly involved with us as missionaries, but everyone in the office was sure walking on eggs.  We did meet a fellow who had been on President Obama’s secret service squad.  His name is Ken Shelton and he knew Doug and Mary in Green River, Wyoming.  He is in charge of church investigations when there is misuse of or disappearance of funds.  It all climaxed with the visit of Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy who came and gave us a special devotional message where he challenged us to catch the VISION of what we are here for, set GOALS to get us excited, and then create specific PLANS to make it happen.  He had been Area President here before, spoke excellent Spanish, and delivered a powerful message.

We had two other special devotional messages from General Authorities this month.  Elder Gonzalez called a special meeting and taught us about using the Book of Mormon in all of our work and challenged all of the workers here in the office to learn English, “the language of the Restoration.”  Elder Vinas also gave us a beautiful devotional about his life.  He is 68 years old and has been a Seventy in the 1^st Quorum for 18 years, which he referred to as suffering for 18 years in joy.  He was a counselor to Elder Holland when they were together in Chile and is a wonderful, humble man who reminded us that numbers and reports can help us measure performance, but the souls of individuals are what really count to our Father in Heaven.

We sneaked off after a day at the office to see the Argentine Ballet Folklorico Nacional.  This group of 36 dancers gave a WOW performance, gratis, of many different dances from periods of the history of Argentina.  We got great seats and it was truly amazing.  One of our favorites was when a man and lady danced a Tango on top of table about the size of a card table.  The footwork was so precise, it had to be, and the energy was so powerful, we could never figure how they didn’t fall off of the table or tip it over.

The missionary work is going very well!  We are booked solid for every Saturday and Sunday for the rest of the calendar year through December 6 for presentations of the Capilla Abierta.  We just trained two new couples to start up the program in the Santiago Chile South Mission and the Buenos Aires Argentina South Mission.  They are great couples, one from the States and one from right here in Argentina. 

We have been trying to do our part with people we know.  We shared the gospel with our friends at the fruit shop, Robin and Victoria.  They are from Bolivia and are rather illiterate which makes reading the tracts and the Book of Mormon a challenge, but he has been to church and prays and we will be patient, like I said earlier, we have a year.  Janet shared a Book of Mormon with a friendly lady who washes sidewalks across the street and works as a maid at the hotel.

We enjoy sharing the gospel each weekend with brand new people.  It is a great blessing to know that there are so many beautiful people in every little ward or branch that we visit.  Last week, on Fathers’ Day we had to speak in Sacrament Meeting, which we do about twice a month.  When we had finished, the primary kids had presents for all of the fathers and they gave me an Argentina baseball cap in the colors of the flag of Argentina, and just in time for the World Cup, which dominates everything right [now.  The people here are really into their soccer!

Well, while most of you are making plans to be outside enjoying the sunshine, we are getting out the winter coats and gloves.  The people here have been all bundled up since it dropped into the 60 degree weather, which makes us chuckle.  They all go around with scarves over their mouths so that the “cold” air will not harm their lungs.  With no central heating systems, the coldest places for us are the chapels, which are actually very cold at 9:00 a.m. Sunday mornings.  We keep our coats on in the church and sit close together and sing hymn #171 “La luz de la verdad”  (“Hark, All Ye Nations” in English) at least once each week.  We are really enjoying our missionary service right now.  We do love and miss our dear friends and family, but this is a great way to begin our retired life together and to get re-acquainted.  In all of our prayers, which there are many in the life of a missionary, we mention you to Our Heavenly Father and are confident that he is blessing you and caring for you in our absence.  

 

Ready for winter

 

Elder Vinas & his wife (center) with senior area missionaries

 

Mark Lusvardi from the missionary department-choosing meat from spit for lunch

 

Elder & Sister Pina from Argentina-new to Capilla Abierta program in BA South Mission

 

Father's Day hat from San Alberto primary

 

Autumn in May

It seems a bit unnatural to see the days shorten, the temperatures drop, and the leaves falling in May. For so many years May has been a time to plant the flowers, watch the trees bud, enjoy longer hours, and shed the winter clothing.  Experiencing May in the other hemisphere is strange.

We had a treat as Senior Missionary Couples and went to see an opera at the Teatro Colon, which is a famous theater here in Buenos Aires that was built in the 1800s. The opera was, "The Barber of Seville".  We felt a bit out of place because we didn't have tuxes and formal wear, but where our seats were located, (3rd tier), Sunday dress was acceptable.  There were some very unhappy people who were not allowed to sit on the main floor because of their dress.  The show was fantastic.  The orchestra was imported from Italy and the leads were all Italians and of course the show was in Italian with Spanish sub-titles, but it was very easily understood and so beautifully performed.  It was amazing!  As a farm kid from Idaho, I will admit that I felt a bit our of place.

We have seen a real boost to our work in the past few weeks.  Elder M. Russell Ballard came here the 20th of February and dedicated Argentina for missionary work.  South America had been dedicated back in the early 1900s by Melvin J. Ballard, but the Area Presidency requested that each country be specifically dedicated, so it was done.  We have changed our approach to the Open Chapel a bit, placing more responsibility on the local leaders and members and they have responded very positively by working with the missionaries and taking the responsibility to invite others.

On April 24 we were contacted by a member of a Stake Presidency here in Buenos Aires to see if we could help them celebrate the dedication of a new chapel in their stake by having an Open Chapel.  We were very excited to help but panicked when he told us that the date for the event was May 2, just 8 days away!  We usually have about 4-6 weeks lead time, but we accepted the challenge and the invitation and met with the Branch leaders in a part of Buenos Aires called Virreyes.  They were all so very young.  The Branch President was just 27, recently married with a brand new baby only 3 months old.  The rest of the ward leaders were just like him.  There were many returned missionaries and seminary and institute graduates and they were really excited to have the new chapel for their Branch and to have the Open Chapel to celebrate the dedication.

We prayed a lot and gave them assignments and they amazed us with their faith and dedication.  We have not seen better displays, more member participation, or move love and concern for visitors in any of our Open Chapels.  There were at least 339 visitors and over 100 non-members that accepted the invitation to come and see the new church.  It was truly a WOW experience for us and for all of the members of the little Branch.  They had community leaders and church leaders in attendance as well as neighbors of the church who wanted to see what it was like on the inside.  We started at 3:00 in the afternoon and were busy until the Branch President finally called it quits at 8:00 and sent out for pizza and empanadas.  Needless to say we were beat, but in such an incredible, wonderful way.

It is great being a missionary!  We have had some great Open Chapel experiences this month with big turnouts and lots of people accepting challenges to read the Book of Mormon and to be baptized.  We have had a young man who is our buddy at the fruit store into our home to be taught the lessons by two Sister Missionaries that we know through the Open Chapel program and we hope that works out well for him.

An article was published in the April issue of the Liahona magazine which explained the Open Chapel program and gave our names and addresses as contact people.  We have been contacted from lots of places here in Argentina where we have not yet visited, from northern Chile, from Arizona, and even from Chicago by a member of the Stake Presidency who wants to have the Open Chapel in Spanish for members clear up there.  Our SLC representative asked us to send him all of our materials and the designs for the banners that we use so that the Missionary Department could translate them into Portuguese for possible use in Brazil and into English for use in Africa. We are so blessed to be involved in this great missionary work and appreciate all of your faith and prayers on our behalf.  As you can tell be are busy and happy, but we miss you and love you.  It makes our day to get an email and Skyping with the family is the BEST!

                                                Barber of Seville cast takes a bow.

                                                     We are seated on the 3rd tier.

                                                          Teatro Colon from the outside.

A look at the stage from the center of the theatre

 

                                               President Florentin and family at Virreyes

                                 Lots of visitors at the Virreyes dedication of the new chapel

 

The brand new chapel at Virreyes

 

La Pascua en la Argentina (Easter in Argentina)

April has been a busy month for us.  We loved General Conference, especially when Elder Ballard told the story of Ioshua, a boy who invited the family of his best friend to one of our Open Chapels and they came.  That was really great for Ioshua and his family to hear and it brought lots of attention to what we are doing!

The April Issue of the Liahona also featured an article about the "Open Chapel" program in the South America South Area.  It was prepared by the missionaries in the Neuquén Mission and it has generated phone calls and lots of emails from places all around about how the program works and how to get a program going in different areas.  We have heard from lots of places in Argentina that are far away, Tucuman and Comodoro Rivadavia and then today I opened my email to find a request from a Brother Cabrera who is a counselor in a stake presidency in Chicago who works with Spanish speaking people there.

April 15 we spoke in the weekly devotional for the area.  The brother in charge asked us the day before because his original speakers had canceled on him.  We could speak on whatever we wanted so we chose Jesus and the atonement.  We used our large Christus and played the words of Christ. The words of Christ is the recording used in all visitor centers when the people gather around the Christus.  It really brought the spirit to the meeting and many mentioned that they felt it.  We bore our testimonies of Christ and were glad as missionaries to share this with the people that we work with.

Easter in Argentina was preceded by two national holidays on April 17 and 18.  The 9 missionary couples that work in the office decided to visit a theme park called La Tierra Santa (The Holy Land) for Easter. We were surprised at how authentic this little bit of Jerusalem seemed right here in the middle of Buenos Aires.  The park was centered around different points in the Bible starting with a 10 minute portrayal of the creation with moving animals that growled and moaned, and mannequins for Adam and Eve. 
We went to the stable for the presentation of Christ's birth with lots of cherubim in the sky with wings and a light show for stars.  We watched a celebration in the "Temple Court" where young ladies danced and one in particular really got into it shaking her head around and around so much that we all got dizzy, poor girl must have a terrible headache and be in a neck brace today.  We then went to see the Last Supper and to taste unleavened bread which was kind of like a saltine cracker without the salt. We walked up to Calvary for the portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ and then watched as a huge statute of Christ rose out of the ground depicting the resurrection.
There were lots of little shops and displays that were supposedly typical from Jerusalem.  We saw Christ cleansing the Temple from the money changers.  We saw the wailing wall.  They had a special portrayal of Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and another of him teaching in the Temple as a boy.
All in all it was very well done.  It was strange to all of us who have been more familiar with the way we have always learned about Christ from our religion because it all ended with Christ's resurrection.  There was nothing about our lives before mortality or what awaits us after this life, which is what really gives Christ's Atonement meaning. We thought it ended darkly.
There was much to see and much to do and we could have spent much more time there, but it got cold and a couple of the sisters had been sick, so we left before we really wanted to.

On Sunday, April 20, we will celebrate 41 years together and it just keeps getting better!

Visit from Darin, Laurie and Dan

March 14th brought us some great company...Laurie, Dan, and Darin.  It was so good to see them after many months.

Highlights from the first day:

Darin's suitcase did not make it from Manhattan

Buenos Aires Temple

Meeting people at the Area Office including shaking hand with Elder Walter Gonzalez (area president)

Caught in huge rainstorm at La Boca with a bus strike

Eating Milanesa at The Cottage (once is enough)

Day 2:

Facturas for breakfast

Recoleta (outdoor market/feria) Cemetery with little Cathedral and Eva Peron's tomb

National Art Museum

Open Chapel in Pilar

Day 3:

Church in Moreno 3rd Ward where Laurie's missionary companion lives--Doug and I spoke in church, Laurie bore her testimony, and Darin and Dan sang Lord I would follow thee (beautiful)

Argentine asado (barbecue) at Laurie's companion's mother's house

Day 4:

Train to Tigre

Boat ride around the delta

Steak dinner at Las Cabras

Day 5:

Subway ride to downtown BA---Teatro Colon 

Obelisco

Florida and Lavalle streets--pedestrians only and lots of shops and "cambio"

Lunch in The Estancia

Catholic Cathedral where the remains of San Martin are buried

Japanese Gardens

Rosedal Garden

Ice cream as much as possible

Day 6:

Meservys to the airport

Darin to La Boca

Darin to the airport

 

Asado on Sunday with Fratonis

La Boca with cobblestone streets and bright colored houses

Japanese Gardens

Recoleta Cemetery

Inside Teatro Colon

Captain of the boat (lancha) we rode at Tigre

Move over Spiderman

Do people really live in glass houses?  (Sarmiento's house preserved behind glass)

We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed the visit!