2015...Wow

Axel Cecchi-another adopted son

Barbecue in the background (galleria); table all ready to go

2015 in Argentina started with a BANG, literally!  We had firecrackers all New Year’s Eve and well into the morning.  We celebrated at the beautiful home of a dear friend from the office named Axel Cecchi, who refers to us as mom and dad.  We started the evening reading the story of Christ’s birth and singing Christmas hymns.  He prepared an authentic  Argentine asado (barbecue) for supper.  We started with different kinds of empanadas and then crackers and cheese with green salad.  Then we enjoyed the potato salad and the baked potatoes.  Next we were served 5 different cuts of beef and chicken.  This was of course all you could eat!  Desserts were fruits and Janet’s chocolate-banana snack cake.  We were totally stuffed!  Next came ice-cream (dulce de leche flavored).  Finally midnight came, which meant that we celebrated with the non-alcoholic cider, toasting to a new year and kissing everybody.  But that meant more food, as they brought out sweet breads, cookies, chocolate bars, and sodas.  Seriously!  We were lucky to be able to roll out to the car for the drive home at 2:00 a.m.

We saw Timon from Lion King

Jackson at the Zoo with us

Bats in the belfry anyone?

 

We had heard great things about the Temaiken Zoo but had not been able to visit until we got up early and went there on Friday, Jan. 2 with our dear friends the Flinders and a boy that they were tending.  I truly think that this zoo is the cleanest place in Buenos Aires.  It was immaculately trimmed, spotless, and beautiful with all of the green.  Our favorite animals to see were the bats, the white tigers, the albino kangaroos, and the monkeys.  There was a huge aquarium that was very interesting with all shapes, colors, and sizes of fish.  As you walked through the display, they swam all around you and above you.  It was really a fun day.

On January 7, as we were thinking about our daughter, Amy, celebrating her birthday, we learned that my dad had passed on.  I had visited with him on Saturday, Jan. 3 for about 10 minutes and he actually seemed to be pretty coherent.  I understand that he fell that day and seemed to lose ground quickly after that.  I was saddened that I could not make arrangements to be in Idaho to be with family.  Our 5 daughters were able to be there and they tried to include us by phone and skype.  Dad and I had actually said our good-byes before the mission and we talked a couple of times a month, so I didn’t really feel the need to go.  He said to me many times, “Doug, there is no reason for you to come home if I die while you are in Argentina.  I won’t be here to see you anyway.”  I miss him and have felt a bit empty when I think about him not being around when we get back.

 

We have our schedule all set for 2015 with an Open Chapel set for every weekend until we are released except the weekend of General Conference.  It is quite a challenge to coordinate with all of the stake presidents and bishops across the two missions here to make that happen.  If things go as scheduled we will have presented in each of the wards here before we return!

We were asked by Elder Resek, an Area Seventy in-charge of the Church Education System here in the South America South Area to teach a Book of Mormon class in English to students enrolled here in the BYU-Idaho Pathway program.  The class goes for 14 weeks and is held each Thursday evening for 90 minutes.  It has been a real blast so far.  We team teach and use power point.  They are really anxious to learn.  These young and not so young people are the salt of the earth.  We have bishops and leaders in our class as well as marrieds and singles.  The Pathway program director, Elder Madariaga and his wife, (a Service Missionary couple) are there each week to support and help the students.  We have been so blessed to meet some of the Lord’s choice children here in Argentina.

BYU-Idaho Pathway class 2015
We just made the history book!  The first institute teachers in the brand new Pathway program in Argentina!!

 

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