September 2, 2012
We left the MTC on August 27 around 8:00 am . We traveled in an MTC van with another couple and about eight other missionaries. Everyone was headed to a different location except for one young sister who was going to Buenos Aires like us. The other couple sat behind us on the van and we were able to visit with them all the way to the airport. They were headed to the London South Mission to do member and leadership support. He had just retired as the head swim coach at BYU and they were very excited to be able to serve their mission.
When we finally found our gate we were greeted by another young elder who had been waiting for a Argentine visa for about six months and had been serving in the Ogden Mission. Gradually a few other missionaries arrived from different parts of the country who had also had delayed visas and were now headed to Argentina. We were all headed on the same flights! We boarded our plane around 12:15 p.m. and arrived in Dallas a couple of hours later. We had a long layover there and while we were waiting, more missionaries, elders and sisters, continued to arrive from all over the country. It was quite fun to talk to them! We "watched" over a few suitcases while these young missionaries ran to make their last phone all.
The flight to Buenos Aires is very long! Over ten hours. We were unable to sleep so by the time we landed we were pretty tired. Mike and Judy Bigelow, our friends of 25 years have been serving in the area office here and they picked us up from the airport and it was a joyous reunion! They dropped us off at our hotel and later that evening we went to their house for dinner. Mike walked over to get us from the area office and we had our first experience walking the streets of Buenos Aires! A little frightening to say the least! The traffic is crazy and pedestrians do not have the right of way. So one has to watch closely and be alert and aggressive.
We met with President Arnold this last Friday and he was very gracious and was so happy to see Mike again after about 42 years! We had a nice visit with him. The Masons will be traveling after next week and then they will probably leave early and let us take over. Renee has organized everything on the computer really well and so that is a big help. There is a lot of training to be done and we will probably start traveling to some of the other countries as well as other parts of Argentina in November to start getting that work accomplished.
We traveled to church with two new sister missionaries and the Masons this morning . We walked a few blocks and then took the "subte" (subway) to the church building. The "subte" was amazingly clean and not too crowded so that was nice. After getting off of the subway we walked another few blocks until we came to the church building. (La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos
Dias) The building is nestled in-between apartment buildings and stores. We were greeted in Relief Society with hugs and a kiss on the cheek which is traditional and quite wonderful!
After church we all went to Mason's apartment for a lovely dinner that Renee had prepared. A homemade meal tasted so good!
We will be in this lovely hotel about another three days or so. About mid week we will move into a temporary apartment and will be there until around September 27 when Mike and Judy leave. We will then move into their apartment. It is a very nice apartment and we will enjoy living there. It is nothing fancy but very comfortable.
We love you all and are very grateful for your support and encouragement!
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