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!
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