Missionaries, Tafi del Valle in Túcuman, and the Argentine flag

Last Sunday was transfer night - they all leave around midnight to take a bus back to Córdoba - and we have a few pictures of missionaries who either were completing their mission or being sent to another area.  We didn't get pictures of Elders Draut/VA, Skinner/UT, nor Lindsey/UT before the transfer.  Here we are with Elder Auma/Perú and his companion, Elder Thompson/UT.  Elder Auma finished his mission and returned to his homeland, Perú, and family.

Elder Sanchez/Argentina and Elder King/AZ are still in Catamarca.

 

Elder Puma/Perú and Elder Larson/AZ.  Elder Larson was transferred back to Córdoba.

 

Sisters Saez/Chile and Castro/Uruguay before Sister Castro was transferred to Córdoba.  We love serving with all these wonderful missionaries and wish them well as they progress in their missions.

 

 

Tafi del Valle is a beautiful town in the mountains in the province of Túcuman. 

 

The mountains surround the town and the higher peaks are covered with clouds most of the time.

 

                                                       We love seeing the grazing sheep along the side of the road.

Looking down the hillside you can see the windy road as well as the river running alongside it.  See how lush and green it is?!!

 

We came across this statue of a warrior Indian on the way to and from Tafi del Valle.  There's a lot of Incan heritage in northern Argentina.

 

We wanted to share a picture of this ginormous flag that flies at the Parque de los Niños/Children's Park.  We took it just as the sun was setting over the Ambato Mountain range.

 

Pancake Breakfast and Zone Conference

On Monday we had the zone over for pancakes with maple syrup and dulce de leche.  Per our tradition, we took a picture of the missionaries in our backyard:

Back row:  Elders Lindsey/UT, Gilman/ID, Chivarry/Peru, Larson/AZ, Draut/VA, Thorup/UT, Sanchez/Argentina, Skinner/UT, King/AZ, and Argyle/UT
Front row:  Sisters Castro/Uruguay and Saez/Chile.  Elders Thompson/UT, Auma/Peru, Puma/Peru, and Espínola/Argentina.             They're another great group of hardworking missionaries!

On Friday we had another zone conference down in La Rioja.  We enjoyed talks from President and Sister Salas.  They're from Buenos Aires and we have enjoyed getting to know and be with them on our mission.  We also had the privilege of learning from Elder and Sister Zaballos from Chile.  He's from the First Quorum of Seventy and is the first counselor in the South America South Area presidency. 

                                     Elder and Sister Zeballos, Sister and President Salas

Below are pictures of happy and content missionaries enjoying their lunch at the end of the conference.

                                                                   Catamarca Zone

Front row:  Elders Larson/AZ, Puma/Peru, Elder and Sister Zeballos, Sister and President Salas
Middle row:  Elders Draut/VA, Lindsey/UT, Sisters Castro/Uruguay, Saez/Chile, Elders King/AZ, Thompson/UT, Argyle/UT, Skinner/UT
Back row:  Elders Auma/Peru, Thorup/UT, Chavarry/Peru, Sanchez/Argentina, Gilman/ID, Espínola/Argentina


                                                                     La Rioja Zone

We are now working with most of these elders on our trips down to La Rioja.  We don't know all of them but do most of them.  They're another great group to work with.
Front row:  Elders Peyton/UT, Jauregui/Peru, Elder and Sister Zeballos, Sister and President Salas
Middle Row:  Elders Zañartu/Peru, Holtby/UT, Guymon/UT, Wood/UT, ?, Hunt/UT, Santo/Brazil, Lindsley/UT, Harper/NV, Ojeda/Argentina
Back row:  Elders Cabrera/Argentina, Soto/Argentina, Diamond/UT, Kohler/UT, Chiroque/Peru, ?

Here we are with the assistants, Elders Acuña/Argentina and Gallacci/WA.  Elder Acuña was in La Rioja for 6 months and Elder Gallacci was in Catamarca for 6 months and La Rioja for 6 weeks so it was a grand reunion for them with former companions, pension mates, and missionaries.

 

 

Pictures of activities and times with members

We've been to member's homes and enjoyed a delightful - and delicious - Mother's Day activity with Catamarca Ward.  Thought you'd enjoy seeing our adventures.

We visited the Pablo and Melisa Torres family in Los Incas Ward in La Rioja.  Melisa made this picture of Christ in Gethsemane by placing nails on the board and wrapping thread around them.  Even the "frame" is made with wrapping thread around nails.  Elder Chivoque/Peru is with us while his companion, Elder Hunt/UT, took the picture. 

We also visited Carlos and Laura Machado and their young daughter, Antonella.  Laura is expecting another baby - Tomas - and has had lots of bedrest with this pregnancy.  They live up in the mountains near Los Altos, northeast of Catamarca.

Here's Carlos watering his lettuce seedlings.  He pushes the machine by hand and does it several times every day.  It's getting very hot down here - mostly in the 90's every day.

                                                     Carlos and Laura with Antonella.

This Gauchito Gil location is different in that it has LOTS of empty wine containers.  We'd never seen anything like this before.

 

 

Here are some pictures from the Catamarca Ward Mother's Day activity.

Sister Lemos with her daughter, Edith Quiroga, and her 2 children, Malena and Matias.  We've had several meals at their home.

 

                     The men cooked chicken and served us the chicken with mashed potatoes.

Doug was great help serving the women.  Included in this picture are Carlos Medina wearing the apron and Hugo Pavon in the pink shirt.

 

Silvina Ledesma is in the center with her daughter Cami on the right and her mother-in-law Margarita on the left.

 

Hernan Pavon was having a wonderful time eating his Mother's Day meal. 

 

From the left side of the table:  Bishop Diaz and his wife Ana, Mikaela and Sister Arpires, Sister Dalia, all the Ledesmas. 

From the right side of the table:  Brother and Sister Salas, Gustavo Ortiz and Adriadna Haman.  I don't know who the other women are beyond them.  All the women enjoyed being pampered at their special activity.

A Belated Happy Mother's Day!!!

Sunday was Mother's Day in Argentina.  I think it's the only country that celebrates in October and we enjoyed the day.  The ward Relief Society, the women's organization in the church, made aprons or little boxes for all the mothers in the ward.

Here we are with our wonderful Mother's Day gifts:  Elvita Alduncin and her twin sister who's visiting from La Plata, Argentina, Susana Diaz, and Gladys Brandan. 

                                                 Susana Diaz with her son Santiago. 

Gladys with her daughter Daniela.  Daniela is in her final year of medical school.  It's a 6 year program and no bachelors degree is required before being accepted into medical school.  She came up from La Rioja, where she's in school, to be with her mother for the weekend.

Alejandro Castro's Baptism

Yesterday evening was Alejandro's baptism, something he has looked forward to for months.  It was a very emotional time for him.

Mirta and Ricardo Valente, Andres, Yolanda, Alejandro, and Jonathan Castro.  Ricardo and Alejandro first became friends about 30 years ago in Córdoba and he came to Catamarca from Córdoba to perform the baptism.

The elders from Ambato Ward all came to support him.  From left:  Elders Puma/Peru, Espinola/Argentina, Larson/AZ, Thorup/UT along with Alejandro and Ricardo.

Ricardo and Alejandro, Mario Bazan with Elder Chavarry/Peru.  Second row: Nildo Ledesma, Elder Draut/VA, Elder Skinner/UT, Marcela Luis - who introduced her friend Mario to the gospel.
Third row:  Sisters Castro/Uruguay (and not related to Alejandro) and Saez/Chile, Elder Thorup/UT. 

The Castro Wedding Fiesta

We began the evening with Alejandro surprising Yolanda with a little ring ceremony in the chapel.  Then as they walked into the cultural hall "Here Comes the Bride" music started playing. 

                                                         Showing off their new rings.

Hermana/Sister  Ramonita Rojas made these cakes and they were absolutely gorgeous.  Here she is doing the finishing details on them.

 

Aren't they gorgeous, beautiful, elegant, and just wonderful to behold?

 

Above:  The first pix is Andres and Jonathan with their parents.  The next one is Andres, Yolanda's mother, Hortencia, and another son, Mauro with his darling daughter.  As you can tell, Andres is an extremely serious young man.

Below:  These men with Yolanda and Alejandro are whom Alejandro works with.  The man in the blue shirt, next to Alejandro is his boss, the man who hired him on the spot when he saw Alejandro helping to unload a delivery truck. 

 

Pictures show many of the friends and family who came to celebrate with them.  We learned that the newlyweds are quite the dancers!  It was a great evening and we're happy we were able to share it with them.

Castros are Married!!!!!

Alejandro and Yolanda Castro are now married!  They've been together for about 30 years and couldn't get married because Alejandro's first wife was kidnapped and missing back in the 1970s.  That was the time when the military was in charge of the government.  As her body was never found, he couldn't prove she was dead.  About 10 years ago her body was found in a mass grave with 9 other people.  Today they made it official!

Here they are waiting for their appointed time.  In Argentina everyone must be married in a civil ceremony before anything else.  They told us they were nervous and anxious for their turn.

Here are Alejandro and Yolanda with their 2 youngest sons, Andres on the left and Jonathan.  They have 5 sons.  Jonathan is ready to start his paperwork for serving a mission.  We're hoping Andres will be able to serve a mission in a year (he just joined the church). 

Hortencia is Yolanda's mother.  She dearly loves Alejandro and they have fun teasing each other.  She was baptized earlier this year. 

 Alejandro had to provide a thumbprint before we started.  Doug and I were the witnesses. 

The two people presiding took turns performing the civil ceremony.  They were advised on the importance of the family, what the husband's and wife's roles are, and how to care for one another.

 

They stood for the formal ceremony part.

 

They hugged...and we hope live happily ever after.

 

From left:  Mario Gomez, Hortencia, Andres, Yolanda and Alejandro, Jonathan

 

                                 Alejandro and Yolanda with their marriage certificate.

 

From left:  Jonathan, Mercedes, Ada holding Tamara, Daiana, Alejandro and Yolanda, her sister, and her mother Hortencia.  It was a happy group, special day, and very special moment to be able to be part of.  Alejandro couldn't get the day off work as he recently started a new job.  He didn't want to walk back down alone to where his moto was parked so we drove him there before taking Yolanda, Hortencia, and Andres back to their home.  Yolanda said she planned on making empanadas during the siesta for the little fiesta being held at the church tonight before heading out the door to her afternoon job.  Life definitely goes on, even though it's their very special wedding day.  We wish them all the best and look forward to hearing about their temple sealing in a year.