Cuatro que son "De Diez"

 

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, out of our car window, as we pulled away from the Mission Office, of our four Assistants, standing at attention, ready to help with anything we might need, all wearing the special "Mission Tie of Excellence". As we say in the Mission, they are all "Ten out of Ten", or "De Diez".

They are, from left to right, Elder Brooks, from Nevada, Elder Palacios, from Chile, Elder Ibañez, from Chile, and Elder Evans, from Wyoming.

We have been the lucky recipients of having  four Assistants for a few weeks, while Elder Evans is preparing to leave to go back home, and Elder Palacios is leaving to go to another area to work.

Gracias por todo, "Asistentes, Excelentes"! Les Amamos!

Chicken Pox

Misc.Photos to Share

Here are a few photos we wanted to share, of us (at the top),with all of our zone leaders last April, 2010. They´ve all gone home now, except for Elder Hinckley, who is the fourth to the left from the right side of the back row. Elder Hinckley will also be going home soon. We continue love and admire them all!

The second photo down is of us with President and Sister Olsen, of the Cordoba Mission, at a Mission President´s Seminar in Uruguay. It turns out that Sister Olsen is the daughter of one of my Mom´s best friends from my Mom´s college days. In fact, Sister Olsen´s mom was a bridesmaid at my Mom and Dad´s wedding! Sister Olsen and I also figured out that we had probably met each other a couple of times when we were children, when our moms were visiting with each other. A number of years later, President Benton and I found ourselves living in Houston, Texas at the same time that the Olsens were living there. While we were living in Houston, President Benton also worked as a lawyer on a number of business transactions with President Olsen. Then, our family left Houston and lived in Los Angeles, CA, Atlanta, GA, and Boston, MA, and lost regular contact with the Olsens.
However, as Boston Stake Relief Society President, I did work for a time with the Olsen´s daughter, Julie Miller, who was a R.S. President in our Boston Stake.

"Fast forward" about 20 years from our "Houston Days", and President Benton and I found ourselves serving in Argentina with President and Sister Olsen, in the calling of "Mission President and Wife"!

Isn´t it great how the Church provides us all with wonderful opportunities to connect and reconnect with friends we´ve known from the past, even through the generations, like my Mom and Sister Olsen´s Mom?(My Mom found out where Sister Olsen was serving, when one day, my Mom was visiting with Sister Olsen´s Mom, and my Mom told Sister Olsen´s Mom that her daughter was serving as "Mission President´s Wife", in Argentina. Sister Olsen´s Mom then exclaimed, "That is exactly what my daughter is doing right now too, in Argentina!)

Then, there´s a photo of us with a family of faithful members of the Church, who live within our Mission boundaries, and a photo of us at the baptism of the husband of a Sister who who has been a faithful and patient member of the Church for many years. (The blond woman with the brown afgan on.) What a joyful day that was for that family!

The last photo is of us in the Mission Home receving a visit from the Area Secretary, Elder Davidson, and Sister Davidson (on the far left side of the photo), President and Sister Gulbransen, of the South Mission, (second from the left side) and our area doctor at the time, Dr. Snell, and his wife.(On our right.)

As you can see, our calling takes us through a wide variety of experiences.

As I often say, "Everyday in the Mission is different in some ways, and every day in the Mission is also the same in many ways, but everyday is always a wonderful blessing to us!"

A Sweet Sister & "Panqueques with Dulce de Leche"

Last Friday, I worked in the Area of "Ituzango 4" in our mission, with Sister Duarte (on my left), and Sister Daniels (on the far right).

We walked through the rain and mud all morning together, visiting and teaching people. I know this sounds like an "over-the-top" description of missionary work, but it´s true. It rained freezing rain all week long last week, and all of our missionaries slogged through the rain every day last week, and I was honored to join a pair of missionaries on Friday to experience the challenging weather with them. 

We worked all morning visiting and teaching investigators, and then we headed toward the house where we had a lunch appointment.

A faithful 79 year old member of the church, Sister Aguirre, had invited us to lunch on that day, and it warmed our hearts and spirits to walk into her kitchen, where she had the table all set for our lunch, and where we smelled lots of delicious smells wafting from her cooking area. 

Sister Aguirre first fed us "Milanesa de Pollo", with hot tomato and onion sauce on top, and then, after we had eaten our generous portions of Milanesa, she told us that she had prepared a special "postre" (dessert) for us. She then went to the oven, and with a big smile on her face, pulled out a plate heaped with warm, rolled up, homemade "panqueques" (crepes) filled with delicious dulce de leche.

Before we left her house, we took the above photo of us with Sister Aguirre.
Even though we were "bundling up" to go back to work in the inclement weather, we felt warm from the love that Sister Aguirre had shown toward us.

What a difference service, sweetness and love can make, especially on a cold, wet day!

We love you Sister Aguirre!

Goodbye to President & Sister Asay

Here we are with President and Sister Asay, of the Buenos Aires South Mission. This is the last time that we saw the Asays before they went home after serving here for three years.

We were all together here in the lobby of the Buenos Aires Missionary Training Center. Do you like the "Field is white, already to harvest" picture of a missionary in the background and also the Argentine flag?

Since we arrived in Buenos Aires, President Benton and I have had a "tradition" of meeting President and Sister Asay at Ezeiza Airport terminal every six weeks, where we all waited for our new missionaries to arrive from North America. After greeting our new missionaries, we would load them onto small buses and head over to the Buenos Aires MTC to pick up our new Latin American missionaries. Hence, we would also see the Asays again in the MTC lobby every six weeks for a little visit.

The Asays have become our great friends over the last two years. President Benton has especially enjoyed all the wisdom and advice that President Asay shared with him during this time. Sister Asay has always been kind and sweet to us, and she also shared alot of great ideas, experiences and information with me, which I greatly appreciate. 

I liked the comment that Sister Asay made toward the end of her Mission, when President Benton asked her what she has learned on her Mission. Sister Asay responded to his question by saying, "I have learned on my Mission that I can do hard things". This from a woman who has already raised eight children! 

The Asays have now returned to Utah, where President Asay has resumed his career as a doctor, specializing in Cardiology.

We miss you President and Sister Asay. The airport is not the same without you, but we´re carrying on! We look forward to seeing you again when we return to the U.S.

Sisters, Sisters, Sisters!!!

Here I am at a recent Transfer Meeting with 12 of our 14 Sister Missionaries.

Our Elders in the background make a picturesque backdrop for the Sisters to create a great pose together, don´t you think?

La Familia Cruz y Su Armadillo

We spent last Saturday and Sunday with members and the missionaries of the branch of the small city of General Villegas, which is a 6 to 7 hour drive out into the "campo" (the countryside). While we were in General Villegas, President Benton extended a call to Brother Cruz (in the blue sweater), to serve as President of the Branch, and he accepted.

After church on Sunday, the Cruz family held a lunch in their home, which included me, Pres. Benton, Elder Weaver, (from Utah)  and Elder D´Avila (from Chile).

The bottom photo is of us with the Elders, and the Cruz Family, Natalia (in the red sweater on the left), her husband Christian, Sister Cruz (on my right), Brother Cruz,next to Sister Cruz, Elder Weaver on the left, in front, and Elder D´Avila, on the right.

(Before Brother Cruz was called as Branch President, Elder D´Avila was serving as Branch President of the General Villegas Branch.)

Things got very exciting after lunch, when one of the Elders told me that the Cruz Family had a pet Armadillo, and I asked if we could see it, thinking that we would be taken out in back of the house to look at the pet Armadillo in its cage.

Well, surprise, suprise!! The next thing I knew, Brother Cruz was walking into the house with the Armadillo, which was upside down in his hand, so he could show it to us. The little creature´s  rat-like legs and paws were batting at the air as if it was running away from us, but, of course it was not getting anywhere, because it was upside down in Brother Cruz´s hand. The armadillo was furry on the bottom, but the skin on its top looked like the skin of a rhinoceros. Its eyes and snout looked like a cross between a possum and a rat.

I had seen alot of Armadillos dead on the side of the highway when we lived in Texas, (it´s the state animal of Texas), but I had always assumed that Armadillos were very slow, like turtles. The events that happened next totally changed my mind about Armadillos being slow.

As I was nervously pondering the looks of the Armadillo, President Benton asked if he could have his photo taken while he was holding it.

Right after the photo was snapped of Presidente Benton holding the Armadillo, he accidently dropped it, and it started running really fast around the kitchen, where we were all standing!

Immediately, Natalia and Sister Cruz began screaming at the top of their lungs in fear of the Armadillo, and I joined in with their screaming, because I figured that if the owners of this little guy were panicking about him when he was running rapidly around on the floor, I was going to go ahead and panic about the situation too!

When the mayhem finally had settled down, and the Armadillo was safely outside of the house again, I knew that the memories we had made with the Cruz family and the missionaries that Sunday  were happy memories,  which would last forever. We will always cherish the memory of being part of the historical milestone of a member of the Branch of General Villegas being called as Branch President, topped off with a great lunch at the Cruz home and an Armadillo on the loose.

All of these types of events combine to make our missionary work rewarding, exciting, joyful, and definitely not boring!