Road Trip

We started June with a road trip.  We were excited to be able to see more of Argentina.  We left right after church on June 2nd to go into Rosario to catch a bus and head up to San Miguel de Tucuman where the migration office was that would process our visa requests.

You can see on the map both our starting point - Rosario and our destination - San Miguel de Tucuman.  Turns out is was a 12 hour bus ride.

The Garretts, and some additional younger missionaries and us were being sent as guinea pigs to try this new process for obtaining visas.  The process through Rosario is a slow one and requires many different appointments to complete.  The visa process up in San Miguel de Tucuman where the church processes visas for missionaries serving in a number of missions located more north and east of Rosario is a one day ordeal so the church leaders wanted to see if it might be beneficial to start having the Rosario missionaries go through San Miguel de Tucuman as well.

Our bus ride took off at 5:30 and turned out to be a "furnace of affliction".  The seats were uncomfortable with little leg room.  The TV screens played movies non-stop, some of them not so great.  But the worst part was the temperature.  We dressed for colder temps and it turned out to be a sauna.  We spent the night sweating.  I didn't sleep at all.

When we arrived in San Miguel de Tucuman at 6:30 am we were taken to a hotel and told we had until 8:30 am to rest, clean up, eat breakfast and be ready to head to the migration office.  So not too helpful there.

We spent all morning at the migration office and had a bit of drama when it was discovered that Elder Trevino from the mission office who was responsible for bringing all the necessary documents failed to bring the originals with him.  He brought copies thinking those would do.  He learned the hard way that when it comes to legal transactions, original documents are required.  The poor boy broke down in tears as he feared we would have come the whole way just to not get anything done.  He thought for sure his office days were over.  Elder Rhoades and I had to do a bit of tender coaching and teaching as we let him know that mistakes often are what teach us the most, especially the big ones.

In the migration office - L-R:  Hna Rubino, Hna Mazareisgo, Hna Garrett, Hna Rhoades, Hna from another Argentine mission

Luckily for us, the Migration officials worked with us the best they could.  Two additional office elders had to make the trip up to San Miguel de Tucuman Monday night to bring the originals and then we had to spend a second morning at the migration office to complete everything.  But we were told that the documents will come about 3-4 weeks later and we will be in the country legally.  Once we hit June 27th we will have been in country for our 3 month grace period that they give you.

Hna. Garrett sitting outside the Migration office enjoying the sun.  The green beltway is along a train track and we got to watch this one go by.  It was pretty loud.

We had two afternoons to sightsee around San Miguel de Tucuman.  We learned that we were staying in a city that hold a lot of historical significance to the Argentines.  San Miguel de Tucuman is where independence was declared on July 9, 1816.  Monday afternoon we visited a museum housed in the "Casa Historica" where it all took place.

Outside of the museum the walls have murals with historical information.  Apparently, Bernabe Araoz played an important part in the fight for independence.  Unfortunately for him, it was a roller coaster of ups and downs that ended with him losing his life to a firing squad.

 Elder Rhoades is standing next to the original doors of the Historical House at the time independence was declared in 1816.  Other items of interest at the museum can be seen below.

 Close up of wooden chest

 Apparently fancy leather worked chairs is what important people sat in.  No gold like in the Incan empire in Peru.

Ornate Leather chest

 They have their own version of a Liberty Bell.  It even has a crack in it like ours.

 This key is from the 1800's.  Funny, our house keys don't look much different 200 years later.

Tuesday afternoon we walked around the main plaza and visited a big city park.  Their main plaza is called Independence Plaza - no surprise there.

Orange trees were everywhere!  At the plaza, down the streets, everywhere!

Elder Rhoades couldn't resist and finally picked one.  When he took a bite, he learned they were pretty sour.  Apparently they have a strain of oranges that are used strictly for juice, meaning you add the sugar.  They are not naturally sweet.

 The main square was surrounded by old colonial buildings.  The photo below shows a government building.

Here is one of the cathedrals that surround the plaza.  We were reminded of Cuzco as there were plenty of churches around, but not as ornate as those in Cuzco.

You could see plenty of metal works - above on the doors and below an example of a ornate wrought iron gate.

                                                        

Our visit to the city park was probably the prettiest place we have seen since arriving in Argentina.

It was interesting to see these beautiful fall colored leaves on the trees and yet right among them was a tall palm tree.

This tree was just begging for a photo op.

And what was pretty exciting was to see mountains off in the distance.  They weren't close but you could see them and they were mountains!  So it was proof that all of Argentina is not flat.

Lucky for us, someone must have gotten wind of the horrible bus ride we experienced because when we went to get on the bus to go home, we were very pleasantly surprised.

See?  The smile on Elder Garrett's face says it all.  We actually had fully reclining chairs with privacy curtains.  It was wonderful.  It was still rough to sleep but it was possible to catch a few hours of sleep during the 12 hour ride home.

We took some time to do some shopping in Rosario when we got in Wednesday morning before heading out back to Venado Tuerto.

The following day, Thursday, we attended our second zone conference in the mission.  Luckily this time we didn't have to travel anywhere.  It was right here in Venado Tuerto.

 At each zone conference, the missionaries that are leaving before the next one have an opportunity to share their testimony.

Zone conferences are a time for the missionaries to receive instruction, be motivated, receive revelation for their areas and have their testimonies strengthened.  This conference had a particularly strong spirit there.  It was wonderful.

Venado Tuerto Zone as of 6.6.19 Front row L-R:  Hna. Salmon, Hna Condie, Rhoades, Allreds, Morenos, Hna. Alvilez, Hna Elos (newbie) Middle row L-R:  E. Cantero, E. Maco, E. Backus, E. Smith, E. Fugal, E. Fields, E. Fernandez/Rios, E. Verdeja, E. Navarro Back Row L-R:  E. Galindo, E. Fuentes, E. Margaria, E. Barrientos, E. Morales, E. Christensen, E. Gonzalez, E. Nerey, E. Raven (newbie)

Friday we were entertaining.  We had two families come over for lunch.  They are both recent converts.  Two brothers, Gabriel & Gustavo Rolon.  Gabriel and his wife, Pamela were baptized before we arrived in the mission.  Gustavo and his wife, Soledad were baptized about a month ago.  Both brothers have a small business doing construction.  They both have received the Aaronic priesthood and have the potential to become good solid members with some encouragement.  We like them.  I managed to figure out how to fix beef stew without a crock pot and have it turn out decent.

EnglishConnect has gotten underway and will now take up our Friday nights and Sunday nights. 

This weekend I finally was able to get piano lessons started.  I have 8 students total.  3 in the morning and 5 in the late afternoon.  Elder Rhoades is going to use the time to split with the younger missionaries or go out with members to visit in-actives or young men.  He had a good experience this first weekend visiting members in Branch 3 with Elders Navarro and Fernandez.

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  It is time to put on the full armor of God so we can engage in the most important work on earth.  It is time to "thrust in [our] sickles, and reap with all [our] might mind, and strength.  The forces of evil have never raged more forcefully than they do today.  As servants of the Lord, we cannot be asleep while this battle rages.  My dear brethren, you were chosen by our Father to come to earth at this crucial time because of your pre-mortal spiritual valor.  You are among the finest, most valiant men who have ever come to the earth.  Satan knows who you are and who you were pre-mortally, and he understands the work that must be done before the Savior returns. And after millennia of practicing his cunning arts, the adversary is experienced and incorrigible.  The Lord needs selfless men who put the welfare of others ahead of their own.  He needs men who intentionally work to hear the voice of the Spirit with clarity.  He needs men of the covenant who keep their covenants with integrity...worthy men who can be called upon at a moment's notice to give blessings with pure hearts, clean minds, and willing hands.  The Lord needs men eager to repent - men with a zeal to serve and be part of the Lord's battalion of worthy priesthood bearers.  We are engaged in the work of Almighty God."   President Russell M Nelson - "We Can Do Better and Be Better"  General Conference Priesthood Session April 2019

Adios Mayo, Bienvenido Junio

May 25th is a national holiday in Argentina.  It is referred to as the May revolution and was the day the first independent government was set up by the people of Argentina separate from the Spanish government.  It is a big deal here.  Every single branch held a social that day to celebrate.  Since I was still feeling under the weather, I missed out on all the activities, but Elder Rhoades went party hopping and visited as many of the wards as he could.  Mission life isn't so bad when you can party hop and count that as missionary work!

Apparently, the typical food eaten on this holiday is called, Locro, which many of the branches
served.

Branch 1 however, fixed this stew for their celebration.  Here's what meal prep looks like when cooking for a crowd.

And here is the finished results

I don't know.  To me, it looks pretty close to locro.

Elder Rhoades came home in a good mood from the parties as he had a chance to fly his dragon kite at Branch 3's party and the kids had a great time being chased by the dragon kite.

The last week in May had us working at half speed.  I was feeling better but still not 100%  A pretty nasty cough plagued me and limited what I could do, but I did get out and do a few things.

We did do a Family Home Evening on Tuesday, May 28th with the Alvarez family, the one that is struggling with an 18 year old son.  They live in Branch 3 area and are a bit out of town on what they call a "quinta", which is a larger piece of property.  We taught about prophets and studying the words of modern-day prophets can provide us with answers to our problems today.  We used a talk by Elder Eyring from April's General Conference.  I will include part of his talk as our spiritual thought for the week.  We then played a game that used the names of the modern-day apostles.  It was a bit hard for them to pronounce the gringo names but by the end of the game, they knew those names which before our lesson the only modern day prophet name they knew was Pres. Nelson.

We picked up another new member family to start working with.  A lady and four of her children (17, 13, 11, 9) were baptized so we are now visiting them.  She has one additional son who is not baptismal age yet.  But 4 of the 5 kids (the younger ones) are male, so if we can keep them active this would be a great boost to the Priesthood and YM programs in Branch 3.

Ochoa family w/Elders L-R:  Elder Rios, Giovanni, Victoria, Sergio, Paola, Albano, Isaias,Elder Navaroo

Just as we are starting to add more appointments to our schedule, we got a call from the Rosario mission office telling us we needed to go get fingerprints taken asap as next week we would be traveling to take care of paperwork to allow us to obtain our visas so we can stay in country.  Argentina lets you enter the country without a visa and you can be in country for three months without one, but after that you have to leave the country or get a visa.  If you don't you are considered illegal.

The church has been having difficulties getting enough visas granted for all the missionaries serving here.  The church has had to resort to a work around solution in the meantime.  Many missionaries are having to leave the country and go to Montevideo, Uruguay for a day and then come back just to reset the three month time frame.  Our three month deadline is June 27th.  So it was good to hear that there were plans to apply for the visas.

So the next day we made sure to get the fingerprints taken care of as without that, we couldn't start the visa process.

It was a bit stressful, as certain forms had to be filled out by the mission office, then sent to us and we had to be sure to have our passports with us when we went to our appointment, which was the very next day after receiving the phone call.  We had to go to the police station for the fingerprints and they did it the old fashion way with black ink...yuk!

We were fingerprinted in the US for our FBI background check but apparently those didn't count here and we had to do it again.  We breathed a sigh of relief once we were able to walk away with the completed forms that we were required to bring with us on Sunday afternoon to the mission office.

This week the EnglishConnect program finally got started.  The first class was Friday evening.  The member serving as the instructor, Sister Berta, is a certified English instructor here in Argentina.  So felt strongly that the class needed to be divided into two levels 1 & 2 as many of the member already have a good English background, which is true.  We met one member who has already studied Pathways and we have met other members that have a good English foundation.  So the first night she evaluated where the students were at and made some designation.  The Friday night class will be the EnglishConnect 2 class and Sunday evening will be the EnglishConnect 1 class.

The first lesson was learning the English alphabet.  We, as the assistants, got to teach the class the Alphabet song, you know, the one the kids sing as they learn their A-B-C's.  It was fun to do that with them.  We also help listen to them as they practice.

Saturday we spent the morning doing laundry and getting things packed for our trip to Rosario Sunday.  In the evening we had a Family Night planned with the San Martin branch.  We had spent weeks working with the members and elders getting everything in place.  It turned out to be a great activity.  The elders did a great job getting the word out and inviting people to come. We had 3 less active families there and two part member families there and an investigator family.  So we were able to get names and addresses for future visits.

We gave the lesson and the elders handled the game part (below)

Spiritual Thought for the Week:   "My promise to you is one that a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once made to me.  I had said to him that because of choices some in our extended family had made, I doubted that we could be together in the world to come.  He said, as well as I can remember, "You are worrying about the wrong problem.  You just live worthy of the celestial kingdom, and the family arrangements will be more wonderful than you can imagine."  I believe that he would extend that happy hope to any of us in mortality who have done all we can to qualify ourselves an dour family members for eternal life.  I know that Heavenly Father's plan is a plan of happiness."  Henry B Eyring - "A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells"  General Conference April 2019