A New Assignment & A Chance to Travel

We have been on the mission long enough that we are hitting the flying stage...or the busy stage depending on how you look at it.  The busier we are the more the time flies.  And the first half of September went by extremely fast.  We must be approaching warp speed.

September started out with two exciting events - a marriage and a baptism.  Rosanna has been a dry Mormon for 3 years, ever since her daughter Tania was baptized.  She has wanted to be a member but had an obstacle to overcome that took her 3 years and a small miracle to accomplish.  She needed to get married as so many of these people down here need to do.  The problem was her "marido" had been married before and so he had to get a divorce first and a divorce is not an easy thing to accomplish down here.  They had finally gotten the divorce process to the point where it could be handled if they paid 20,000 pesos, which to them is a small fortune.  To us it's about $400.  They managed to get it down to 12,000 pesos but that was still more than they could afford.  The thing was it had a time frame.  They had to pay it within a 30 day window or start over.  She was very discouraged.  But here is where the miracle came in or the generosity of members world-wide because the branch president decided that the church would pay what they could not and make that happen.  She was extremely grateful and excited.  It took awhile for the process to go through but finally on September 6th, Rosanna and Victor were married.

 Here is where everyone goes to get married in Venado Tuerto .

 The newlyweds - Rosanna y Victor.  And below is a photo of us with the happy couple.

 Above is a photo of the current family, Tania on the left and Francisco or Paco for short on the right.  Victor has grown children from his previous marriage who also attended, but refused to let us take their photos.

 And here is what 5 year old Paco did during the long awaited ceremony.

The zone leaders who worked with them were not able to attend as they had training in Rosario, but the other elders assigned to the branch came.  Elder Casilla on the left and Elder Bryan on the right.

 The custom is to throw rice as they walk out the door of the Registro Civil, but Tania had cut up all her past school exams into small confetti pieces and used that instead of rice.

 She must have had a lot of exams, or saved for a long time because there sure was a lot of paper.

And all of a sudden, Paco was full of energy.  He went around throwing paper at all that would let him.

That evening, they held a potluck dinner for friends at the chapel.  That shows how difficult the economy is right now.  They couldn't even afford to throw their own party.  But the ward members love them and were happy to help out.

The decorations were very simple, but everyone enjoyed themselves tremendously.  Music and dancing and lots of laughing.

The following day, the long awaited baptism took place.

E. Fields on the left baptized her and E. Vagara was happy to be there (on the right).  There isn't a lot we need to do to help this new convert as she is well integrated with the members and has had three years to learn the gospel and has a good strong testimony.  We love her and her family.

The first Saturday in September we finally did our American BBQ with Juan and Maria's family for completing the Book of Mormon reading challenge in July.  I attempted to make potato salad.

Here is how it turned out.  It was passable, but the black olives down here are NOTHING like the ones we eat regularly in the states.  The other ingredient that was hard to find was sweet relish.  We had to settle for some sweet pickles chopped up.

Our friends, Louisa and Bruno returned from their visit to New York City and here is what they picked up for us.  A nice big jar!

We received a new assignment early in September.  The BYU Pathway program has a bumper crop of students this year as they have started virtual gatherings, which means students no longer have to meet in person with a group on Thursdays.  They can do it online.  This means if there is only one or two English speakers in an area, they can still participate and study through BYU.  Before you had to have a minimum number of students before the Pathway program was offered in your area.  Not any more.  However, this meant many more students enrolled for the fall semester and they desperately needed missionary couples who could mentor gathering groups.  We were asked to be one of them.

We LOVE the Pathway program so we were happy to say yes.  However, we had no idea how time consuming it was going to be to get up and running with just a two week notice.  We had to be trained on how the program works online and how to work within the zoom platform they use for the online meetings.  We were given a lot of reading material and had a few training sessions.  Then we were assigned a group and told to reach out to each student prior to the semester start on September 16th.

We started out with a group of 38 students so that was a lot of students to contact and get to know while still doing missionary work here in Venado Tuerto.  Luckily a few days before the semester started they found a few more missionary volunteers and our group number dropped down to 28, a bit more manageable.

All of our students are from Argentina.  Most of the students are from Buenos Aires and its suburbs, Rosario, Resistencia, Corrientes,Santa Fe, Misiones and Catamara.  A few other locations as well.  The majority are women with 9 men in the group.  We even have 2 non-members participating with us.  Their English level is quite good.  And the ages range from 19 to 64.  All of them are so excited to be participating and are eager to learn.

This is what is amazing about the program -

PathwayConnect tuition in Argentina costs $7.00 per credit.

Our Family Home Evening groups this month were given a lesson on the Book of Mormon as the mission focused on how crucial the Book of Mormon is to conversion this month.  The first week we had the Monsalvo family over with their new son-in-law who was baptized a few months ago.

We fixed cinnamon rolls as part of the refreshments as the Monsalvos own a bakery business and we thought they might be interested in adding cinnamon rolls to their bakery items.  Sure enough, a copy of our recipe was requested.  This rolls are pretty big.  It was amazing to watch Elder Scott, who finishes up his mission at the end of September eat 3 of them.

The second week we did our FHE in the home of the Nadalini family in Rama 2.  He is the Elders Quorum President and she just recently was called as the Relief Society President.  We leave it up to a different set of missionaries each week to invite a strong active family with a less active or new convert or non-member family.  We were glad the elders had chosen this family as we've been wanting to get to know them better.  We also had the chance to meet another less active/part member family Sandra Raies and her young adult daughter, Melissa.  We fixed chicken corn chowder that night as the weather had been quite cool and rainy that day.

We were invited to accompany the youth in Branch 2 on a temple trip they made to the Cordoba temple on Sept. 14th.  We weren't given a lot of notice, but apparently they needed more Melchezidek priesthood holders going to help with the confirmation ordinance in the temple.  Since Elder Rhoades has the assignement to work with the young men, we were interested in going.  Besides, a chance to travel and go to a temple?  That's a no-brainer.

The catch was we had to bring someone we have been working with, a less active or new convert.  We've been working with a less active young man in Branch 2 so we had hoped he could go.  He's been making good progress  But when he had his temple recommend interview, apparently he didn't pass.  We were disappointed, but we just will need to keep working with him.

But we did have a new convert, Valentina, a 14 year old girl who attends Branch 1 that we wanted to invite.  She was going to go on the temple trip in August but that ended up being cancelled and she was really disappointed about that.  So we made arrangements for her to go and everything worked out with that.  So we were on our way!

We had to leave early Saturday morning.  They had rented what they call a "combi", a large van that held 19 people for the trip.  It is a 4.5 - 5 hour trip from Venado Tuerto to Cordoba.  We left around 8 am and didn't get in until 2 pm.  I think our driver was a bit slow.

The members got all excited when we drove past this soccer stadium.   Apparently, important soccer matches are played here.  These guys follow soccer like some people follow football in the US.  We've been told the only time patriotism is shown in Argentina is during international soccer competitions.

Here is our first view at the temple.  The first time seeing a temple in six months.

Looking back to the entrance from the front of the temple.  The weather was wonderful.  Much less humidity than in Venado Tuerto.  And lots of palm trees so you know the weather must be warm.  Probably like Oakland, CA.

 Here are the youth that went with us.  Four young men.  The front one, we had never seen before.  His name is Jonaton.  He is less active and a new convert of less than a year.  Why is it we didn't know about him sooner??  We will definitely be trying to work with him now.  Erik is behind him, Tomas Fresco and last is Ignacio.  Ignacio is attending our mission prep class.  He turns 18 in April and has plans to serve a mission.  Yeah!

Here is the group of young women who went.  Some are in pants because for the trip in the van they wore pants and then changed to skirts or dresses to go in to the temple.

Here is Valentina.  She was so happy to be going to the temple.  She told us she didn't sleep much the night before due to her excitement.  It made me think of kids at Christmas time.

And here we are in front of the Cordoba temple.  They had plenty of women leaders so I went and did an endowment session while the youth did baptisms and confirmations.  The temple is smaller.  It reminded me of the Draper temple.  The color scheme was mostly gold with a little bit of green.  So the gold decor reminded me of the Bountiful temple.  The youth did 118 baptisms and confirmations.  It was a very productive time.

But then we had the long drive back.  We were delayed leaving because just as were climbing into the van, a fan belt broke.  They had to take time to look at that.  It was determined that the belt was for the air conditioner, which we were not going to need for the drive back so we took off.  We didn't end up getting back to Venado Tuerto until after midnight.  It turned out to be a very long day.

We tumbled out of the van and took Valentina home and then fell into bed.  The next morning, Sunday, when I was getting ready for church I could not find my purse anywhere.  We figured it must have been left in the van.  We made contact with them right away.  But the van had gone out at 7 am with a group of girl hockey players for the day.  They claimed the driver had looked through the van before leaving and didn't find anything.  Dave also said he had done a sweep of the van and didn't see my purse.  I'm pretty sure it was left on the van and either the driver or a teenage girl got lucky because we had quite a bit of money in my wallet - 5,000 pesos, which to them is a lot of money.  I also had two credit cards and my Argentina ID card, which I had only gotten about a month ago.

Mission life has it's ups and downs, good times and not so good times.  But we learn and grow from it.

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  "The Book of Mormon helps us understand that God's commandments are not a restrictive list of dos and don'ts but guideposts to a happy, abundant life.  The gospel can resolve almost any question or need."  Preach My Gospel p. 108
We testify this to be true!  God's way is a plan of happiness.

Hitting the 5 Month Mark

The last half of August flew by.  We had a few baptisms that added to our new convert teaching list.

Farias family - L-R: Griselda, the mom, Hna. Condie, Carolina with her daughter Juliana, Damian, Yanina, his sister and Hna. Martinez

First was Damian the older brother of Carolina.  He is 24 years old and has now followed his sister Carolina into the waters of baptism.  We just have his sister Yanina (who is married) to convert and to reactivate the dad, Jorge (has word of wisdom challenges).  If the spirit and the missionaries can work a few more miracles, we can perhaps get an eternal family created here in Venado Tuerto.

The other baptism is Giselle. 

Giselle with Hna. Ellsworth on the left and Hna. Martinez on the right

She actually lives pretty close to us.  She is 17 soon to be 18 years old and was a referral from one of the members.  She is definitely an example of someone prepared by the Lord.  Her mom, Rosa, is taking the discussions as well, but just isn't quite ready to take the plunge yet.

This last transfer of missionaries has been the most difficult so far for us.  We had gotten close to a number of the missionaries that were transferred out, especially Hna. Condie.  She is from Cedar City, so there is a good chance we will be able to stay in touch.  She has certainly worked miracles here in Venado Tuerto.  She is a great missionary!  Now we are back to having to groom new missionaries on how to work with us.  They really don't know what to do with us as we are the only senior couple serving in the mission so it is a new experience for them.

 The two sisters on the left were transferred - Hna. Condie and Hna. Elos, from Chile.  Hna. Elos had been serving out in Murphy.

Also both elders from Rama 1 were transferred - E. Galindo on the left and E. Fuentes on the right.

These two greenies got transferred.  Venado Tuerto was their first area and so we've known them the whole time we or they have been here.  E. Margaria in the foreground is from the Pampa here in Argentina and E. Raven in the background is quite the character.  We knew both of them well and learned to love them.

We had a zone conference at the end of August.  This time we had to travel into Rosario for it as we were meeting with the Rosario West zones.  They are two smaller zones as the area they cover is quite large (a lot of smaller towns just outside of Rosario).  We've been here long enough that we saw a number of former missionaries that had served with us in Venado Tuerto.  We also met some of the missionaries we've worked with for medical reasons at this zone conference.

All kinds of interesting things go on at a zone conference.  Above E. Thorpe is doing push-ups in an object lesson about giving it your all.  Below, E. Castilla is going through an exercise to illustrate trusting in the Lord.

 The Elders who are slated to go home before the next zone conference are always asked to bear their testimonies.  This time 9 elders gave their farewell addresses - L-R:  E. Wolz, E. David, E. Thorpe, E. Fields, E. ?, E. Palacin (from Spain), E. Scott, E. Taylor, E. Robertson

 At Pres. Allred's request the missionaries all stood and sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" as the closing song.  I'm behind them all playing the piano.  It was a powerful spiritual experience.

Here is our zone group as of the last transfer on Aug 18th.  Front row L-R:  Hna. Alvilez, Hna. Tippetts, Rhoades, Allred, Hna. Ellsworth, Hna. Martinez  Middle row L-R:  E. Wolz (DL) E. Thorpe (DL) E. Williams, E. Pertuso, E. Grahme, E.  E. Castilla, E. Bryan, E. Packer, E. Betancort (from Venezuela), Back row L-R:  E. Barrientos, E.  E. Veraga, E. Fields, E. Scott, E. Morel, E. Topham, E. Sessions

Our mission prep class is progressing.  We've been able to keep our attendance up for the first three weeks.  There are 15 weeks for the entire course so we'll see how we do in the long run.  It is a good group of young adults.  If we can get the majority of them out on missions it will be a great blessing to the district.  One girl, Stefania Moreno, has submitted her papers and is just waiting for her call.

Elder Rhoades continues to make progress with the young men.  He has had two kite making classes here at our home.  He teaches them how to make a small paper kite first, then they graduate to making a kite out of an empty Doritos bag and finally one out of cloth.  He has been hunting for bamboo to use for the kite sticks.  They grow here it just has taken him awhile to figure out where to find them.

 Here is one of the kites we've bought down here (above).  Valentin Sanchez is holding it.  Below you can see it flying in the field next to their house with one of Dave's kites (the circular one) flying below it.

Valentin's older brother, Joaquin took to kite flying immediately and did a great job with Dave's two stringed kite on the first try.  He had a birthday August 20th so we went out and bought another bat kite and gave it to him as a birthday present.

E. Rhoades has also managed to talk me into letting him buy a foosball table.  With how much these boys love soccer here he figures it will be a hit with them when they come over for activities.  It was a bit expensive, but the decline of the Argentine peso has helped to make it more reasonable.

Speaking of the peso....the economy here is teetering.  When primary elections were held this month, the candidate that came out on top was the one that has leftest ideologies.  The markets did not like that and immediately the following day the peso went down (for them), up for us.  The rate of exchange is now 55-59 pesos to the dollar depending on the day.  This is up from 38 pesos to the dollar the first day we were here at the end of March.  That's like a 50% increase/decrease depending on how you look at it.

The Rolon families that we work with who were struggling economically have been blessed with steady employment.  They both got hired on with the church working on some of the church owned properties nearby.  This will allow them to learn new skills, be around good people and have a steady income, something they didn't enjoy when they worked on their own.  This opportunity became available to them after they had fasted and prayed for help.  It sure is good to see the Lord answer prayers and watch as new converts learn to turn to the Lord and trust him to help them with their needs.

L-R:  Gustavo & Soledad Rolon, E. Raven, E. Packer, Gabriel & Pamela Rolon

The Ochoa family's garden area is progressing.  The mom was in a motorcycle accident and had some significant injuries.  No broken bones, but a head concussion with memory loss.  She wasn't wearing a helmet.  So things were put on hold a bit, plus we needed to wait for the overnight frost to be over.  But she now has a number of plants in her garden and we'll see how things fair for her.

 Down here you use what you've got.  They have a lot of dogs so we had to try to fence in the garden area.  She had some fencing material and Dave is trying to shore it up using empty pop bottles filled with sand so the dogs can't dig under it.

 Above - lettuce plant.  Below - parsley plants.  The dirt was full of these broken tile pieces.  They are putting them to good use by lining them around the plants.

Below you can see a few of our seed starts that we are still nursing along.  

 It was the funniest thing.  The boys were fascinated with E. Rhoades' drill.  Finally he let them actually use it.  They were having a ball!

Just have to show this photo below.  It is one of the Ochoa families pet dogs.  Any guesses on the name?  It is a female dog, just to give you a hint.

If you guessed Cynthia, you are a winner!

We got in one service project during the last half of August.  It was helping to paint part of a school.

 Members of Rama 3 work on painting the steel doors.

 Here's a group photo as we painted the outside iron fence.  The paint was a pretty poor quality, real runny.  We got to wear those yellow helping hand vests the church uses for service projects.

Just after participating in this service project as we were driving home, we finally found a bike for Dave.  And because it warmed up the last half of August we've been able to go out a number of times on bike to do errands.  We haven't gone to appointments on bike yet.

Dave's bike for the next year.  Pretty basic but when it's all flat you don't really need a lot of gears.

Spiritual Thought for the Week: 

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved brethren (and sisters), be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." I Corinthians 15:57-58