PATAGONIA DEL NORTE

Hola!

Last Saturday, November 24, we left on a week long trip headed south of Buenos Aires, about five hundred miles.....The purpose of our trip was to visit with and discuss areas with two of the AAA's ; Hermano Merino in Santa Rosa, and Hermano Sosa in Trelew and also to have two trainings with three stakes.  It was a wonderful trip, and very insightful in every way. Trelew is part of the Patagonia Region, so inbetween meetings we were able to see a few sites of Patagonia.  (An area that our entire family has been talking about for years!)

Our trip to Santa Rosa was beautiful! There was a lot of gorgeous farm land and some unique and beautiful birds that happen to be by the side of the road.  Most of the highways are two lanes so the driving can be very challenging with all of the many, many trucks on the roads.  However, we were able to enjoy the countryside inspite of the traffic!

We arrived in Santa Rosa on Saturday evening and stayed in a hotel just outside of the city.  Santa Rosa is a rather beautiful little community and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.  We attended church in the morning in a great little branch where we were warmly greeted by two sets of missionaries and other members of the branch.  It was the "Primary Program" and the children were adorable!!  There were only 12 children, but they sang out and did a wonderful job!

Later in the afternoon we met with Hermano Merino.  He is an exceptionally nice person and we talked with him for about two hours.  ( I forgot to take his picture!)  He works for the government and is actually a certified accountant like Michael.  After talking with him we went over to another church building to meet with the Santa Rosa Stake.  There were about 35 people there.  We took some time and talked with the Audit committee and Audit Committee Chair person and had a really good discussion.  Michael was able to answer questions and also take questions that we will get answers for this week.  After all of these meetings we have we come away with a list of emails to send and a list of things to do to help the members that we talked with!

Monday morning we made our way towards Trelew for a meeting with two stakes and also Hermano Sosa.  It was a long distance to go, so we stopped overnight in Las Grutas, on the Gulf of San Matias.
It was a gorgeous day and the color of the water, just took our breath away!

We took the opportunity to walk along the boardwalk  and with the wind it felt amazing....

On Tuesday morning, we got up early and headed to Trelew for a meeting that evening.  We arrived in time to get our things together for our meeting with the Trelew North and South Stakes.  Hermano Sosa picked us up at our hotel and we headed over to the church.  There we met the nicest people ever!  I had pulled up alot of reports and worked over some of the statistics so we knew that both of these stakes were actually in really good shape.  Michael conducted a discussion with them and learned how they were able to get all of their audits done on time and resolve all of their exceptions!  It was great!
They do have some problems with internet connections in some of the "barrios"   (wards) and also have some difficulties with online audits because of that,  so once again, we made a list of items we need to follow-up on , and obtained email addresses and we will start that process tomorrow at the office!  I summarize all of the  meetings, and keep all of the follow-up lists going.... Michael and I have worked out a great system!  (though not without a few flaws!)  I guess all of those years working so closely together in his CPA practice are really paying off!!

On Wednesday evening we met with wonderful Hermano Sosa for about three hours.  We met with him in the hotel and we had gone out to see a few sites during the day so didn't change back into our missionary clothes as you can see!

We learned alot from him and we made a long list of things to help him with.. While he has the two stakes that are doing so well, he has another stake and district that are not doing so well and so we will plan another trip in the new year to help him with those.  He was a delightful person!

Inbetween these meetings we were able to see a few remarkable sites in the Patagonia Region.  There is an amazing diversity of animals that all dwell together!  The Argentine government has done a fantastic job of preserving the Patagonia region and building visitor's centers with all of the information one needs to understand this pristine area.  It is a highly protected area.... we had to go through several check points as the authorities inspect every car to make sure no fruit or vegetables are brought in.
The area is very wild and rugged..... and very, very windy.  People from all over the world visit Patagonia..  We visited a penguin colony, and a whale area..... we missed the Flamingos, but in October there were hundreds of them there.  We saw amazing species of birds, wild llamas, (Guanacos), penguins, rabbits, bugs and unusual plants. Here are a few of the photos we took.

We are preparing for our AAA conference which will be held here in Buenos Aires at the area office on December 14 and 15.  All of the AAA's will come here from Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.  Michael and I are in charge of the two day event .... we have done a lot of planning but we have alot of work to do over the next two weeks!  We will have two people coming from the church audit department in Salt Lake as well.

Just a few photos of Patagonia del Norte......

It was amazing to see the Guanacos and the penguins in the same area!!