Some final farewells

We leave Catamarca tomorrow around midday.  We'll be driving to Cordoba to finish up details with the pensionista (elder in charge of apartments) on the house we've been renting and to visit with President Salas and his wife.  On Tuesday we'll drive down to Buenos Aires.  Wednesday we'll be flying down to a little town in the southern end of the country, El Calafate, so we can see glaciers and beautiful mountain ranges in both Argentina and Chile.  We'll arrive home the morning of Wednesday, Feb 6th.  It's hard to believe our mission is coming to an end.  While it has been very difficult to say goodbye to so many wonderful people, we look forward to the reunions we'll be having with our children and grandchildren.

We've had the opportunity to visit with several members throughout the stake to tell them goodbye and have some pictures to share from those visits.

Presidente Montalvo is the branch president of the La Quebrada branch in La Rioja.  Here he is with his wife and daughter, Albina, and son, Felix.  We were there on Felix's 12th birthday.  Pte Montalvo is an extremely dedicated church leader and his enthusiasm is contagious.  He's originally from Bolivia and Sister Montalvo is originially from Peru.

Luis Villafañe, 1st counselor in the Los Incas bishopric with Bishop Alvarez.  We were in the clerks office working on ward membership records with them.  More dedicated leaders in La Rioja.

Presidente Daniel Villafañe with his wife Cintia and their new daughter Dafne, other daughter Valentina, a friend, and their son Bautista.  Pte Villafañe is the branch president of Antártida Branch in La Rioja.  We've loved working with him.

Carlos and Laura Machado with their daughter Antonella in front of their new home that Carlos built.  Their little son will be born in March.  They're in the Valle Viejo branch and have to drive 1.5 hours to get to church as they live up in the mountains.  Another wonderful family.

Here we are with Marcela Luis and her son, Thiago, who was celebrating his 4th birthday, and Marcela's mother, Olga Contrera.  We visited them one time and they immediately started attending church again, after many years absence.  They're faithful and very dedicated and have been instrumental in introducing the gospel to other people as well as talking to other inactive members in their neighborhood, encouraging them to return to church activity.

Dany and Delia Crettaz with their 15 year old son, Damian.  We're still praying for their return to full activity.  Another special family.

In back with Doug and me is Mariana Rojas.  In front is Victoria Parmigiano, her cousin Julieta Bambicha, Eli, Esperanza, and Claudio Parmigiano, and Efrain Bambicha.  Eli and Mariana are sisters.  We've loved our visits with them.

I taught Monica Sachetti how to make chocolate chip cookies.  Below, Agustin had to taste them to make sure they were good.  He approved!!

Roberto and Lia Suaya with their son Karin.  They treated us to an asado and enjoyed seeing them one last time.

 

Nicolas Arpires is the stake executive secretary and is extremely dedicated to his calling.  He helped us so much with all the updating of records for the various wards and branches. 

Our last missionary pancake breakfast

We've had a pancake breakfast for the missionaries in our zone many times over the past 17+ months.  We had our last one with them this past P-day and as usual, it was great being with them.  For many it was the first time to have maple syrup down here - Americans as well as the Latin missionaries - so as you can see, they were all smiles (and, I might add, big appetites).

From the bottom clockwise:  Elders Ramos/Brazil, Silva/Brazil, Harper/ID, Coral/Peru, Lopez/Paraguay, Argyle/UT, King/AZ, Sanchez/Argentina, Hruska/UT, and Swallow/UT

From the bottom clockwise:  Elders Swallow/UT, Espinola/Argentina, Nillson/UT, Lopez/Mexico, Washburn/UT, Sisters Steward/UT, Gugliottella/Argentina, Elder Hruska/UT

The Catamarca Zone

Back row:  Sisters Gugliottella/Argentina, Steward/UT, Elders Nillson/UT, Silva/Brazil, Coral/Peru, Argyle/UT, Sanchez/Argentina, Lopez/Paraguay, King/AZ

Middle row:  Elders Swallow/UT, Lopez/Mexico, Espinola/Argentina, Harper/ID, Washburn/UT, Ramos/Brazil

In front:  Elder Hruska/UT

We'll miss having them in our home and enjoying their enthusiasm with and for each other as well as their missionary labor.  Another great group of hardworking missionaries!!   

Signs of the Times

We had to go to Córdoba last week to finish up some necessary paperwork for our visas.  While driving there we passed this sign about the Falkland Islands.  This sign is what Argentina thinks about the Falkland Islands - that they're the Islas Malvinas and belong to them.  The islands are at the southern end of the country.  The president of Argentina, Cristina de Kirchner, is currently requesting David Cameron, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, to hand over the islands to Argentina.  If you're interested, you can go to Wikipedia to get all the details.

This billboard is on the outskirts of Catamarca.  Cristina is on the left and the governor is on the right.  They're both from the same political party.

This billboard is also on the route from Córdoba to Catamarca.  This is the image of the Virgin of the Valley for Catamarca.  What you're seeing behind the Virgin - the windy road - is a popular road that takes you up to see the view of the city and we've taken several missionaries up there.

Baptisms and Transfers

Florencia was baptized last Saturday.  She's a great person and a wonderful addition to our ward.

                                                         Elder Espinola/Argentina baptized her.

Elder Thorup/UT was tranferred this week - back to Cordoba.  He'll be greatly missed.  Several of Florencia's friends came as well as her parents.  It's always wonderful to have support with such a big decision in one's life.

This is the Acosta family.  David is on the right holding their youngest son Ian.  Yanina is on the right of him.  David baptized their oldest daughter, Ludmila, and 3rd child - they have 7 children.  Ludmila is wearing the sundress on the left.  This picture has part of David's extended family but I don't know everyone's name.  In the back on the left is his mother with his youngest sister in front of her.  Continuing on the back row is his sister Noemi holding their daughter, her husband was also getting baptized.  Elder King/AZ baptized him.  Another complete family in that ward!  The children from the left are Maxi, Ludmila, Belen, Tuko (can't really see her). Gustavo, Noemi's son, and Chochi.  We've come to know and love the Acostas and their wonderful children.  They're a very special family.

                         Here's little Tuko (her nickname) so you can see how cute she is, too. 


Transfers were this morning so yesterday we went to say goodbye to Elder Gilman/ID.  He's been in Catamarca since March so he seems like part of our family.  He'll be greatly missed.

Hermana Saez/Chile began her mission in Catamarca and off she goes to Cordoba on her first transfer.  She grew so much while here and has learned to love the Argentine people (she came with many doubts and hesitations).  We've grown to love her as well!  We weren't able to see the other elders who were being transferred as they were all out saying goodbye to the people they've been teaching.  Changes are part of missionary life.  Good luck Elders Thompson/UT,Chavarry/Peru and Thorup/UT!

La Noche Buena/Christmas Eve

 We were invited to our bishop's home for La Noche Buena/Christmas Eve.  As I mentioned previously, it was a VERY hot day and evening and night - well over 100^.  We ate outside by their front door and at midnight, when the fireworks started shooting off, we raised our glasses to toast the new Christmas  Day.  I realized at the end of Christmas Day that we never took pictures of all the missionaries at our home.  We had a great group and enjoyed our time with them and they were happy to be fed and to use our phones and computer to talk to their families.

  

From left:  Gladys Brandan, Gabriel Rasgido, Bishop Brandan (standing), Ruben Ceballos, Ana Maria Lemos, and Daniela Brandan.  Gabriel and Ruben are cousins and Ana Maria and Gladys are sisters.  Gabriel's parents went to Uruguay to be with his sisters who are living in that country.  Ruben is basically alone so the Bishop and Gladys invited them to join their family for the night.  Both young men are working on their papers for serving a mission. 

The only difference in the picture below is Doug has joined the group and the Bishop is the one taking the picture.

Christmas Zone Conference

First of all...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  We're waiting for the clock to tick by for our 10:30 p.m. dinner invitation at our bishop's home.  I'm currently watering the backyard as it's summertime down here and it's plenty hot.  Today was only 108^ and we were told it felt like 111^.  I had to agree 100%.  In fact, it's 105^ outside right now and it says it feels like 109^ so we're cooling off.  I must admit, it feels like anything BUT Christmas with this kind of heat but the calendar tells us it's December 24th so it must be Christmas Eve.  A week ago we went to Cordoba for a combined zone conference with 3 other zones and it was wonderful seeing so many missionaries and even other senior missionaries.

For lunch we were served pork and beef sandwiches.  That's a big pork leg and the bowls have various kinds of mayonnaise sauces to add to the rolls.  There were tossed salads on the tables for everyone.

Elder Green/CO is on the left with Elder Ramos/Brazil on the right.  I don't know the names of the 2 elders in the middle but some certainly look very interested in that pork leg, wouldn't you say? 

One satisfied group of missionaries!

And another...

                                                                                                        And another...

And one more!  Missionaries are always happy when food is being served to them!

Here we are with Elder and Sister Mahr who are from Buenos Aires.  They're currently serving in Dean Funes, which has an independent branch (doesn't belong to a stake nor district), where Elder Mahr served as the branch president for a year.  Now a local man has been called to be the branch president and he's training him until the end of their mission, which is in March.  They told us they were married and living in the Buenos Aires 5th ward when Doug and I were both serving in the mission office and in that ward 40+ years ago!  Small world!  We don't remember each other but they were able to update us on the status of many members in that ward.  They still are from the same area. 














Our final goodbyes to Elders Puma/Peru and Gallacci/WA as they left last week for home.  Elder Puma served in Catamarca from the end of January until the middle of December, serving in 3 different areas.  Elder Gallacci served with us for 6 months.  They're both outstanding elders and served the Lord well as missionaries. 

 

Feeding the Elders, a Christmas pagent, and the Cordoba temple

Last Wednesday, December 12th, we took lunch down to the elders in La Rioja.  On the way down we passed this rather large dust devil and had to snap a picture of it.  There were several cars along the side of the road taking pictures of it with us.  While crossing the road it fell apart so this was the last of it right here!

  

We made pulled pork sandwiches and they were very happy with it.  In front and to the left are:  Elders Peyton/UT, Shumway/UT, Shumway/UT, Kohler/UT, Wood/UT, Chiroque/Peru, Hunt/UT, and Ojeda/Argentina.  Yes, there are 2 Elder Shumways in La Rioja. 

 

 

This group I'm not sure of all the names but I'll try.  From the left:  Elders ?, Lindsey/UT, Harper/NV, Diamond/UT, Zanartu/Peru, ?, Canales/Chile, Cabrera/Argentina, ?  Several of these elders serve outside the city of La Rioja so we don't work with them one on one. 


We had a small program where we sang a couple Christmas songs then a community choir of retired people sang several Argentine, folkloric Christmas songs.  Following the music we went outside and had a Christmas pageant with the traditional story from Luke 2 as well as prophecies from the Book of Mormon.  All the youth in Catamarca were able to participate.  It was wonderful!

 

                                                               

The Cordoba temple is moving along with its construction.  It was fabulous seeing all the progress they've made since we were there about 7 months ago.

It's now easily visible from above the mission home fence.  It was also a gloriously cool day, only in the low 80's, which was such a relief from the 107^ temperature we were "enjoying" the day before in Catamarca.