Busy Busy Busy!

These last two weeks have been our busiest so far! From Zone meeting two weeks ago with about 20 other missionaries on Tue. to hearing our Area Pres. & our Mission Pres. & their wives speak in Mendoza to all the missionaries & couples in our mission on Thur. , really kept us hopping. Pres. & Hermana Zabollas are from Chile. She speaks so fast that our ears couldn’t keep up with her tongue! However Pres. Zabollas and Pres. & Hermana Goates were much easier to understand. It was a wonderful meeting and such a blessing to be among all the missionaries at once. On Sunday, Mother’s Day, Linda got to teach her first Relief Society lesson in Spanish. So she began with hearty “Feliz Dia de las Madres” to all the women who just looked back with a blank stare. Come to find out, Argentina is the only country in the world that doesn’t have it on the second Sun. of May. They celebrate it in Oct.!?! So she gets two this year! The rest of the lesson went fine. Spent two days last week in San Rafael and Alvear to inspect 14 apartments. Managed to get all 10 in SR done from 9 am to 9 pm the first day. The hardest part is finding them! The directions are not very clear. The last one we did after dark in a little place called Salta de las Rosas. One of the Elders there is Tongan and comes from Oakland. He was so excited to find out that we’re from Vacaville because he lived there when he was 10. As we left he handed Fred a gold tie pin with the Oakland Temple on it. We were very touched! When we travel far, the Church puts us up in really nice hotels which we appreciate so much! Two of the sisters’ apartments needed help with their heaters. One was in a town about 30 mins. away and took two trips to get fixed . The other is in Uspallata two hours into the Andes Mtns. which we talked about last time. We made our second trip there this last Thur. and brought the Warners, the couple who work in the mission office, along. She is our mission nurse and it turned out that both Hermanas were sick so she was able to help them while Elders Maseda & Warner hooked up their heater. The Warners were so grateful to get out of the office ad see some of the country. As it turns out, we’ll be making that long trip one more time next week with the Warners to finish the job. Sat. was a special day We went on an outing with the six office Elders and the Rogers, another couple who are in San Martin (about ½ hour west of Mendoza). So for the third time this month we headed back up the Andes Mtns. This time we went an hour past Uspallata to a volcano called Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas. It has a big glacier on it which we could see quite well after we took the ski lift half way up an adjacent mountain. We also got to see Puente de los Incas, which is a hot springs and natural bridge among some huge rocks on a river. The minerals in the water have caused the rocks to turn a bright gold color. Really beautiful!! The week was capped off on Sun. with watching the broadcast of the dedication of the Córdoba Temple, the second in Argentina. Pres. Uchtdorp, accompanied by Elder Christofferson, gave the dedicatory prayer followed by Elder Zabballos leading the Hosannah Shout. It was a spiritual feast!!

It's Fall Y'all

It may be that spring has sprung for those in the northern hemisphere but here its fall y’all!! The change in color of the trees is awesome and makes for some great photo opportunities. It got down to the low 30s here last night and you would have thought it was 30 below by the way folks were dressed. We are staying warm in our little vineyard house. We went to San Martin this past week for more inspections. We are meeting some of the finest young missionaries as we travel around. There was a threesome of sisters living in their “castle” which is a member’s house with a small apartment. One each from Utah, Brazil and Peru. The highlight of the week was traveling deep into the Andes Mountains to a remote branch called Uspallata. It is nearly at the border with Chile. A beautiful little town in the mountains. The trip up had some absolutely stunning scenery. Believe it or not this first picture was taken by Linda through a glass window of our car doing about 60mph with an iPhone!! We had lunch there after doing 2 hours of repairs to the missionary pension. The two sisters were so thankful we did the work. The main item was a gas leak that meant they had to go outside and turn on the gas to cook then go outside to turn it off again to prevent the tank from emptying. Not to speak of not being able to use the heater at night. A couple of trips to the hardware store for parts and a little work left them happy campers. We then headed back down the mountains from above the clouds. President and Sister Goates were having a dinner for all of the senior missionaries and a farewell for one couple in Mendoza so we decided to take Route 52, the back way home, which we thought would be faster than the way we came up. It turned out to be more than we bargained for. A ride never to be forgotten! We knew something wasn’t going well when we ran out of paved road soon after leaving Uspallata and we didn’t see hardly any other cars. It turned out to be 40 – 50 miles of winding dirt road with a lot of switchbacks and very steep drop-offs. We were disappointed at first thinking of the obvious long journey ahead but it turned out to be worth it due to the breathtaking scenery and views. After the dinner Linda was the drawing winner of a Crockpot that the departing couple was leaving behind. I know that probably doesn’t sound particularly wonderful but since there are NO crockpots here it is a real gem!

Where Were The Seagulls?

I know you all know the story of how in 1848 the seagulls saved the crops of the Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley by eating up all of the hordes of crickets. Well Fred cooked up a couple of racks of his barbequed ribs and brought them to Mendoza for the missionaries working in the office. The crickets wearing white shirts and ties began to swarm all over the ribs devouring every rib in sight until nothing was left except the aroma and a few bones! And not a seagull in sight to save the day. We continue to visit, teach and encourage the weaker members of the church here in La Consulta. Some are beginning to come out on Sundays and it is good to see them returning. This is an agricultural area and unfortunately some of the people are in poverty. One such family is the Condo family which we have visited twice. They live on a farm and you have to walk the last 200 yards or so to their house and step over a fence to get into the yard. They get a vehicle in there somehow so there must be a secret entrance. The family structure there is a little confusing and we are still trying to figure out who is who. Life there seems more like a colony to us. Each time we visit there are new faces and some of the others are not there. We plan on taking family photos at some point so they will have to identify with one group or the other for the shot! It is a dirt yard with an outdoor kitchen using open fire for heat and some very makeshift housing. Last visit Maria, who is expecting her 9th child in July was cooking bread in the outdoor oven and she shared some with us that was still warm. Yummy stuff! By our best estimate there are about 20 people living there and if we can get them coming out to church we could really fill our little chapel to overflowing. The couple dozen or so chocolate chip cookies that Linda made for them just barely made for one cookie each! We shared a video about the Last Supper from our iPad propped up on the dusty rear bumper of their truck and had some discussion afterward. During the discussion one of the toddlers got restless so the mom, without batting an eye, just went right into breast feeding mode. No modesty blankie or nothin'! Now, that right there is distracting and a bit awkward to say the least. Teaching in Spanish is hard enough but sheeesh! Come to find out from speaking to other missionaries and the Mission President it is a very common thing here. Just going to have to deal with it. And NO we don’t have a picture to share!! Jose Coronel and his wife have been absolute angels going with us to introduce us to the families in our branch. Jose can be a character sometimes like trying on this Bolivian poncho that one of the ladies had just finished making. We had them over for dinner and fed them some of Linda’s yummy taco soup. Afterwards we got on the computer and were, with Linda’s skillful help, able to locate some of Jose’s ancestors.

The UFC in Argentina

We have been very busy with the inspections again this past week. We traveled 4 hours or so to San Luis, which is east of Mendoza on the road to Buenos Aires, then another hour on to Justo Daract. In the search for the missionaries living quarters we ran into an 11 year old member boy named Patricio on his way to school who talked our ears off. Also a cute little calf tied to a fence right in town. One of the fun things about inspections is you get to try on any goofy hats you find! The sisters continue to out distance the elders in cleanliness by quite a bit in most cases. Here are a couple of the stars who wanted their picture taken by our car for some reason. We also discovered a little investigator living in one of the missionary pensions in Tunuyan. He seemed very shy and harmless and didn’t say much. We found him hiding in the freezer so we snapped a photo for evidence. On Route 40 between La Consulta and Mendoza there is an interesting character depicted in a 30 ft tall work of art. We didn’t quite know what to make of it so we just call him Sheriff Woody. We just give him a salute every time we pass by. On to the UFC! You thought UFC stood for Ultimate Fighting Championship…..well here it is the Under Freeway Café! In out travels to and from the mission office we pass by this overpass where someone got the absolute genius idea to use the space by the street under the freeway for a restaurant. Low overhead cost for sure! They set up tables with tablecloths and everything. I don’t know what they really call the place but we call it the Under Freeway Café. Fred kept saying to Linda that one night he would take her there to dine. She was very resistant and wanted nothing to do with going to dine under the freeway and 9 o’clock in the evening when they open for business. Well since it was our anniversary it seemed like a logical place to have an elegant dinner. So reluctantly Linda agreed and off we went on the one hour plus trip to Mendoza. They cook chorizo sausage over an open fire grill and serve it on a roll with several sauces. Smokey and noisy with cars and trucks passing by under and over but even Linda had to admit that the food was absolutely yummy!

Where's Waldo?

We finally discovered why we were picking those wine grapes! While we were out there with our missionary tags on a fellow who was working the harvest came over and introduced himself and asked us about our service project. He told us his name was Waldo and that he had served a mission in Buenos Aires some years ago. He further explained that he was following the grape harvest and we all supposed that he lived somewhere other than here. He asked about conference and where it could be seen so we explained that it would be shown in Tunuyan, the next town north. We were invited over to Brother Coronel's house the following Monday night for Family Home Evening. Guess who shows up. Waldo with his wife and daughter. Turns out he lives right here in Eugenio Bustos until he has to return home way up north in Salta. He did not know the church was here. So he went to conference and will be out to church this Sunday. So where's Waldo?....he's back at church in La Consulta, Argentina thanks to a bunch of wine-grape-picking missionaries. That was the highlight of the week. One of our assignments from the Mission President, after he found out Fred was a Facilities Manager for the State Department, is to inspect all of the missionary living quarters. They are called pensions here. We went up to Mendoza Monday to check on the logistics of a trip 3 hours north to San Juan to inspect 24 pensions and deliver water filters in a three day trip. We parked our car in front of the mission office and went inside to get all coordinated for the trip. When we came out we discovered that the right rear door window had been smashed and was laying under the car. Our coats and the GPS had been stolen. Nobody heard the alarm. The thieves were obviously in a hurry and didn't take time to look into the shopping bag on the rear floor of the car or they would have seen our ipad there and surely would have taken it. So that delayed our trip for another day. We confiscated the other Toyota that the office missionaries use until our car could be fixed. So the next day we headed out for San Juan in the back seat of the mission pickup truck. Not too comfortable. The mission put us up in a nice hotel while poor Elders Ruiz-Diaz and Trelease who went with us had to sleep on the floor of the pension of some of their fellow missionaries. We felt terrible about it but we had nothing to do with any of the arrangements and not much could be done. The inspections were interesting. They varied from very clean and tidy (mostly the sister missionaries) to... they might as well be living under a bridge down by the river. The vast majority were okay but a few.....not so much. We considered threatening to take some pictures and sending them to their mothers. But you just gotta love and appreciate those young missionaries for all they are doing!!! One of the reasons we wanted to come to this particular mission in Argentina was to try and find some of Fred's family that used to live here. We have old letters from the 1920's with an address in San Juan. After the inspections we hunted down the address in the old part of the city. The exact address was not to be found but we spoke to some of the neighbors and they told us that the huge earthquake of 1944 levelled that part of the city. Over 10,000 people were killed and 90% of the buildings were destroyed. Perhaps some of Fred's ancestors perished in that group. In any case the old house that was built before 1900 no longer exists. On our way back we stopped in Watermelon Heaven! We bought a couple at a very reasonable price and headed for home. One for us and one for the young missionaries that slept on the floor. They were good but not the wody we grow and are used to every summer in Vacaville.

Finally Settling In

Well we are finally getting settled into our new digs. We are living on a 30 acre vineyard in part of a large beautiful old farm house that has been sectioned off for us. Since we are the first couple missionaries to serve here a lot had to be done. Nothing except the drivers moves fast here so it was a bit frustrating getting AC/heating, washer/dryer, and internet installed. Yay! We finally have internet! Not blistering speed but it will do. The owner is a widow of about 3 months. Dalia is still grieving the loss of her husband and was in tears worrying about the grape harvest which started this week. She was worried that there were not enough workers to complete the harvest in time so we quickly organized a service project for the missionaries in our district. They were excited to help and spent a whole day in the vineyard cutting and hauling grapes. It is very hard work in the sun and you get covered in sticky grape juice. Yeah, we know they are wine grapes but the poor woman needed help and we figure the good will might go a ways in preparing Dalia to hear a message about the plan of salvation. The mission gave us a brand spanking new 2015 Toyota Corolla to drive. We went shopping last week in Tunuyan, the next city north, and parked in front of the store. When we came out the car was surrounded by 3 motorcycle cops and two on horseback. You would have thought that there was a big drug smuggling ring bust going down or something. It turns out we were partially blocking a driveway, which we didn’t see, and were given a parking ticket. Tried to talk them out of it but the taskforce was undeterred. $35 fine that had to be paid at the bank for some reason I cannot explain. So Fred is an official criminal in Argentina! Last Saturday we went up the road 3 miles and took a free tour of the Fournier winery. Yes, wine again! It was constructed over 3 years and completed in 2003 by a wealthy Spaniard at a cost of $20 million. It is very modern and looks like a huge space craft from the road ¼ of a mile away. It is huge with thick concrete walls and could surely survive a nuclear blast in the area. The Chinese Ambassador was there and got a special tour including horseback riding for him and his family. We have been out visiting some of the less actives in the branch which outnumber the actives 10 to 1 so you can see we have a lot of work to do. The language is getting easier to understand and we can speak better. We went to the district meeting today and gave a presentation and we understood most of what was said as opposed to last time where it was torture to get through. The Branch Mission Leader , Jose Coronel, and his wife, Alicia, who is also the Relief Society President have been very supportive and helpful going with us on visits for introductions. Stay tuned!

The first week in Argentina

It was a long flight but we survived! We spent the first two nights in the mission home with the wonderful hospitality of President Goates and his wife. The first day was Zone Conference with all of the missionaries in our zone. We were thrown in the pool so to speak with regard to Spanish. We got about 60 percent of it! On the way to the conference Pres. Goates took us down town to change money on the "blue market". The official exchange rate at the banks is 8 pesos for one dollar but the blue market is higher and is comprised of a bunch of individual entrepreneurs. The more you exchange the better the rate. Well we brought $5,000 in cash so we decided to exchange it all in one swoop. Linda and Sis Goates stayed in the car and Pres Goates and Fred went to do the deal. It was in a cage located under a large building in Central Mendoza. Pres Goates and Fred took off their name tags and went in. We got a 12.6 to 1 rate which is very good. The guy behind the counter kept a poker face and never uttered a word as he counted out packets of cash. Problem was that Fred got a stack of money about 6 inches high and had to stuff it in four different pockets in his suit and carry it around all day at the conference. They went in one way and left via another for security concerns. It had a little taste of doing a deal with the Mafia BUT ALL LEGAL!! We finally got to where we will be working. La Consulta is a little town of about 8,000 people. Well we are in a "suburb" of La Consulta called Eugenio Bustos. We are making friends with the people in the local shops and dining establishments. Kind of a podunk little town but we love it. Siesta is from 1pm to about 5pm and the town literally shuts down during that time with the exception of an ice cream place and a little shop like a very mini 7-11. Our house is not ready yet so we have been staying in a hotel. Very tiny rooms. Sort of like a Motel 3. We have to move the suitcases around like checkers so we can get around. The house should be almost ready tomorrow but we are moving in regardless. Found out Fred's iphone 6+ is worth over $2,000 here. Gotta keep an eye on it. Linda's iphone 6 is not much cheaper. Went to church this morning. Still trying to figure out what language they are speaking! They speak very fast and we are going to have to up our game. We will have appointments this week with some inactive members that we can start working with to try and get them back into activity.