CATAMARCA, LA RIOJA AND CORDOBA

We finished up our northern Argentina tour with visits to about four stakes and districts.  We had some great meetings and met some great leaders and members.  In total we drove about 2,000 miles and saw lots of goat herds along the side of the road and acres and acres of sugar cane fields.  We brought home some problems to solve and had some great engaging discussions with leaders who needed someone to listen and help them with some of the new changes in the audit program.  We were able  help some and will continue to work on some of the issues from our office here in Buenos Aires.  It is always a meaningful experience to meet with the leaders and members, feel of their spirit and embrace the moment!

Here are a few of our photos from the last part of our trip.  (We arrived home this last Monday evening, and Chelsea arrived today, Thursday!  We are so thrilled to see her and enjoy her for a few weeks.  It feels somewhat strange to have her here but very comfortable and comforting!)

The doors on this same building as below.

I captured this sweet little spring scene in downtown Cordoba while we were lost trying to find a chapel!  This is one side of a huge Catholic church.

La Sierras Stake, Cordoba.  Our Assistant Auditor, Hermano Herrador on the far left.

Sugar cane fileds

More sugar cane fiels!

La Rioja stake in La Rioja , La Rioja Province  (This stake has leaders in both Catamarca and La Rioja)

La Rioja- one of our favorite small towns.  This is the central plaza in the city!  It is early spring here and the Jacaranda trees are blooming in the north part of the country!

Jacaranda tree - La Rioja

La Rioja - There are many wonderful pink buildings in Argentina!

This very large goat by the side of the road!

La Rioja Stake - - Catamarca, Catamarca province

We will be home in BA now for a few weeks.  We head to Salt Lake City the middle of October for our annual audit conference organized by the church audit department.  All of the Area Auditors from around the world will be there... about twenty couples.

After returning from Salt Lake City, we will be home a few more weeks then will head out on a trip to see our Assistant Auditor in the southern most part of Argentina, in Ushuaia , Tierra del Fuego.  It will be an exciting trip as we will travel with Hermano Tossen for about four days.  After we return from there we will return to BA to prepare for our Annual Conference with our assistant auditors during the first part of December.  We have a few odd trips to make inbetween all of this..... Stay tuned!

PURMAMARCA AND THE HILL OF SEVEN COLORS

After our one night stay in Sanitago del Estero, we drove north to the provice of Jujuy and the capital city of that province:  San Salvador de Jujuy.  We had a few hours on Tuesday morning to take about a 40 minute drive north into the beautiful red and green mountains of this northern region of Jujuy.  This province borders Chile and Bolivia.  We were about 200 miles from the Bolivian border.

Our wedding anniversary happened to fall on this trip.... but on the day, Septemer 8, we didn't have time to celebrate.... so we took part of Tuesday and did that!  (We celebrate 43 wonderful years)

I had done some reading about Jujuy Province before we left and confirmed some of my findings with our dear friend, Axel.  One of the most fascinating sights to see was Purmamarca a lovely little Argentine village nestled in the mountains  at the foot of the very famous "Hill of Seven Colors".  We enjoyed a few hours here wandering around and eating the regional empanadas which are the best in the country and are far better than what we can find in Buenos Aires!  Jujuy is famous for their empanadas as is the nearby province of Tucuman.

Enjoy these few photos of the South American charm we drank in!

Many wonderful Alpaca blankets!

Hill of seven colors!

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO

After Resistencia, we traveled all day to Santiago del Estero, which is located west of Resistencia in the province of Santiago del Estero.  It is not a wealthy area of Argentina as was explained to us by one of the local auditors.   It was a long all days drive.  We had an evening meeting to attend and we did arrive in plenty of time.  The hotel was difficult to find as it was on a street with no thru traffic and that always poses problems for the GPS and us the driver!  But we found our way as we have done in many, many chaotic Argentine cities.

We found our way to the church.  We did not meet up with our assistant here but we had a great and very productive meeting with a group of about 7 auditors and committee members.  Michael gave a couple of presentations and answered a record number of questions!  The people were really, nice and we enjoyed our time with them very much.  One element of almost every training we have is that there is always plenty of laughter and fun conversation which adds to the enjoyment of the experience.

The auditors and leaders of the Santiago del Estero Stake

Along the highway to Santiago del Estero, we saw many, many small and large herds of goats!  

RESISTENCIA, ARGENTINA

The auditor on the right of Michael is quite an exceptional guy.  He travels all over his stake doing audits of small branches.  He takes the bus everywhere to do this.  He has spent hours and hours on fairly long bus trips and Martin says he does it with a joyful heart........he said he is an amazing guy.

Tomas, Aaron, Martin, Ema and Gabriella

We are on a 13 day road trip across Northern Argentina visiting small districts and stake audit committees.  The purpose of our trip is to encourage the stakes to complete their mid-year audits, which are due by the end of September, and to answer questions and give support where it is needed.  There are some changes to the audit program and the financial system in the South America South area, and even though all of the information has been sent out, there are still many leaders and auditors who have questions  and who need clarification of certain questions on the new audit form.  Michael is able to answer the questions and it is fun to watch the faces of the auditors as they finally understand the new form......."Si,si,si!"

Our first stop was Rosario about three hours north of Buenos Aires.  We arranged to meet up with our auditor there, Ruben Acosta.  We had a great visit with him and he was very up to date on which stakes in his area, about 10, have their audits done and which ones are struggling to complete them.  It is always very helpful ,and meaningful as well , to have personal visits with our assistants and learn of any problems or positive experiences they are having.

After a night in Rosario, we headed for a two day stay in Resistencia.  There we met up with our assistant, Martin Fernandez.   We were so happy to see him again and enjoy his excellent trainings.  Martin is the owner of a small private college that specializes in teaching English, and also Human Resourse education.  He speaks excellent English and often offers to translate documents for us, which we actually have had him do.  We had two trainings with Martin and also enjoyed a wonderful meal with he and his family in their lovely home.  Their children were quite exceptional and  little Ema, just a year older than our Millie ,was adorable for sure!  Gabriella, Martin's wife, prepared a delicious traditional meal and dessert .  She is an English teacher in the local high school and says it is very challenging!  After lunch, Martin, Gabriella, Ema and Mike and I went for a drive along the Parana River and the enormous bridge that crosses over the river.  It was a beautiful drive as the Jacaranda (lavender and purple blooming) trees are just starting to bloom in the northern region of Argentina.  They are gorgeous.  Ema sat in between Michael and I in the back seat and we visited with her and it made us miss our darling granchildren!

Martin is on the far left!

Jacaranda tree

OUR MISSION ASSIGNMENT

Hola!

Before we head out on our last long road trip, we thought we would describe a little more about our work.

The church has a church auditing department and each congregation of the church is audited twice a year by local auditors who are called to fulfill this responsibility.  In our area we have just under 2,000 units (congregations).  We have the responsibility of overseeing this program in our area (Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Argentina).  We have  to insure that the audits are completed and that corrective action is carried out where necessary.  We have 28 assistant auditors that are assigned geographically and help us carry out this responsibility.  We work with them on a daily basis, mostly through emails, but also phone calls.  We are involved in training these 28 assistants and we assist them where help is needed in training the local leaders.  This training involves visiting these 28 assistants  throughout the year and also organizing an annual training in Buenos Aires.  We are responsible for this South America South Area , which is one of the approximately 25 areas of the church worldwide.

The purpose of the audit program is to insure that the donations made by members and  also the funds of the church are used for the right purposes .

As we have worked with the Assistant Auditors throughout this past year, and also with the local leaders throughout the area, we have come to appreciate their dedication, and the hard work and service that they provide in the church.  We have learned so much from this experience and will return home with a greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to help and serve others.  We have visited in the homes of our assistants and shared meals with them and met their lovely families and we have embraced this experience to the fullest.

We have included here a picture of our conference last December when we were just beginning our mission and meeting for the first time, many of the assistants.

We have also included a picture of our Area Presidency who are responsible for all of the affairs of the South America South Area.  Elder Zeballos  is our audit committee chair here in Buenos Aires and we work closely with him.

President Walter Gonzalez is in the center with his wife Zulma.  They are from Uruguay
Elder Jorge F. Zeballos and his wife Carmen on the left are from Chile
Elder Francisco Vinas and his wife are on the right.  They are from Uruguay

We have loved our association with these wonderful, wonderful people .  They have greatly blessed our lives.  We look forward to the next five months as we finish up our mission and work with lots of energy and determination to complete our goals.  

POSADAS, ARGENTINA TRAININGS - MISIONES PROVINCE

On August 29 we flew from Buenos Aires to Posadas in Misiones Province.  Several situations there required our attention:  a new mission president, a new Assistant Area Auditor we had to meet and train, MSR trainings, our trainings with small districts outside of Posadas.  The flight is about an hour and a half and it was a beautiful day.  Posadas was warmer than Buenos Aires which was nice!

We arrived in the late morning and we had a training with the new mission president and MSR (membership records and statistics) .  We all met at the new mission home .  The Posadas Mission is a newly created mission and includes all of Misiones province plus some districts in Pilar, La Paloma and Encarnacion, Paraguay.  The mission president and his wife, President LaPierre and his lovely wife, Dottie, (I asked if her name was Dorothy and indeed it is!)  have a huge task ahead of them.  They are from Boston, very down to earth and very warm and friendly.  They have 10 children, 2 sets of twins which makes them very real indeed!  When we arrived at the mission home , the house was filled with about thirty missionaries ready to head to Paraguay!  They had just been fed a lovely lunch prepared by Hermana LaPierre.  ..... sloppy joes, and good old American potatoe salad,, and homemade brownies!

Our new auditor, Manuel Franco, attended our meetings on this day.  He is a very , very nice person and we are looking forward to working with him.  We were there until about 6:30 and then Omar and Michael and I drove south to Apostoles for another training which went until 11:00 at night.  We loved the people we met with and were able to explain and cover alot of information on the audit work.

The next morning, early we went back to the mission home to further train Hermano Franco and also the mission president.  We had a great visit and learned more about Hermano Franco and his family and his South American Heritage.  After Hermano Franco left, around noon, President La Pierre and his wife invited us to share lunch with them.... leftovers from the missionary lunch the day before.  We ate outside on the patio, it was a perfect spring day..... we shared laughs, experiences new and old, and a little information about ourselves...... it is always fun to meet people from the Boston area as we traveled to there and through there when we lived in New Hampshire and we have wonderful memories of family trips...........

On Saturday, we met with the Posadas Stake.... and had a great meeting and Michael was able to answer many quesrions.  Hermano Franco also attended..... After the meeting we shared a snack of sweet treats and the traditional white thin sandwiches that are filled with various fillings.

Sunday we left early in the morning to head north to Eldorado...to meet with the Eldorado District and small district that had the wrong audit forms!  They were so happy to talk with us and get some updated information.  These four men loved Mike's sense of humor and there was a good amount of laughs and teasing going on among us all!

Here are photos of our trainings, each of which we enjoyed to the fullest.  Meeting the people and associating with them is always the highlight of our travels.

Apostoles District!  These guys were so young and so nice!

Aposotles... As you enter this town of Apostoles, there are two enormous statues of two of the apostels which are lit up! It  is an incredible sight at night!

Eldorado District!

Enrique, President LaPierre, Osmar and Michael
Posadas Mission Home

Our new AAA, Hermano Franco is next to Michael.  He is a big guy!  These people were sooo nice!  The shortest man was so jovial and smile and laughed  alot!  We enjoyed the evening with these fine people!

LAS MISIONES JESUITICO GUARANIES

The citizens of the missions....... the Gurani and the Jesuits

In between our meetings on Friday and Saturday evening, we drove north an hour out of Posadas to San Ignacio, where there are ruins of the well known Jesuit Guarani missions from the 16th century.
This was an educational as well as a stunning experience to  see ruins that are so very old. The Jesuits from Spain organized communal living with the indigenous Guarani and taught them music, art, wood carving, construction and many other skills.  The Guarani felt protected by the Jesuits.  This particular colony of ruins we saw  first originated in Brazil in 1609.  It was moved to the province of Misiones, Argentina, in San Ignacio around 1697.  There are about 30 ancient Jesuit Missions throughout South America.  Seven of these missions have been delcared World Heritage Sites.  This particular mission is a World Heritage Site.  It was a stirring experience to walk through these very ancient ruins ..... and imagine the mix of cultures and languages all coming together in a community.......

The musem  of the Jesuit Missions

An fruit laden orange tree among the ruins

The stone work was incredible!

Many vendors in the province of Misiones, which is close to the Paraguayan border, sell the "Chipa" bread which is a staple in Paraguay.  These bread baskets hang beside the road and the vendors fill small plastic bags with the bread and sell 2-3 pieces of bread to people driving by or stopped at traffic lights.

This bird was sitting among the ruins making the loudest noise I have ever heard a bird make!  He was gorgeous!