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!

CATARATAS DEL UGUAZU

We had a meeting in the northern sector of the province of Misiones on Sunday afternoon.  We met with President Rojas, President Medina and the audit committee of the Eldorado District.  After spending the night in a VERY rustic hotel in Eldorado, we headed north about an hour and half to one of the "Wonders of the World"...... Iguazu Falls...... (Y-guazu) named by the Guarani ...... the indigenous people of Northern Paraguay.  Iguazu Falls are situated where three countries meet.... Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.  We only had four hours to spend at Iguazu, as we had to return to Posadas before dark and it was a four hour drive.  We arose early and left Eldorado at 8:00 a.m. in quite a thunder and lightening storm... and torrential rain!  The drive took us a bit longer because of a lot of trucks and the heavy rain but we arrived at the falls right when the gates opened at 10:00 a.m.  We had grabbed our umbrellas and raincoats before we left Buenos Aires and we were certainly glad we did!

Iguazu Falls are fed by the Iguazu River and the size of the river and the falls is difficult to comprehend!

We took two significant walks to the different sections of the falls as there are many.  We stood so close to the water we could almost touch it.  The steel walkways are a miracle in themselves that allow visitors the opportunity to see close-up this wonder of all wonders!  As we came to the end of the first walk to "devils throat" the sight of the falls was truly breath taking....... the magnificent beauty of the rain forest is a spiritual aknowledgement of God's creations.  It was a thrill of nature beyond anything we had imagined.  Here are just a few photos...............We embraced the rain and the moment and we  were truly thrilled with the experience and  we felt grateful............

This beautiful bird was perched  on a railing.  The colors are stunning!  The rain forest is populated with many different species of beautiful birds.  

TRAININGS IN ASUNCION, PARAGUAY

Last weekend we flew to Asuncion, Paraguay for quite a few meetings and trainings.  We really love
Paraguay and love being there among the people and we find it to be a very refreshing and rewarding experience each time we go this unique and amazing country!

The Asuncion Temple.

Our purposes for this trip were for Michael to briefly speak at two area council meetings where he could address all of the stake and district presidents in Paraguay regarding the audit program, train a new Assistant Area Auditor, Hermano Cabanas,  attend a training given by our other auditor in Paraguay, Hermano Beraud and attend  another special training for stake secretaries given by our friend, Dante.   There are two missions or councils in Paraguay.  The Asuncion Mission, and the  Asuncion North Mission.  The North Mission has a brand new mission president, President McMullen.  We enjoyed meeting him .  He is still in a daze and not really knowing what he is doing since he only arrived in Asuncion a month ago, so we tried to give him some encouragement!

Our new auditor, Hermano Cabanas is great and very enthusiastic and we loved our time with him.  He is a very interesting person as he speaks fluent Guarani, which is the language of one of the indigenous peoples in northern Paraguay.  Hermano Cabanas often translates for conferences.  Guarani is a very difficult language for sure.  We bought a Book of Mormon in Guarani as we are fascinated with the language, and they sell it in the small church book store at the church office building in Asuncion.  The title on the front of the book is, "Mormon Kuatianee".  (unfortunately, I can't do the accents on my computer!)   We also were very fortunate to meet a group from another northern indigenous tribe, the Nivacle people.  Their faces were beautiful ...... can't really describe the experience....... it was very unique.  They were in Ascunicion attending some church meetings.

Our church meetings were all very rewarding and we met some really wonderdul people.  Elder Zeballos was in the same sacrament meeting we were in on Sunday and we were able to hear him give a talk which we thoroughly enjoyed and learned from.

Paraguay has recently elected a new president which seems to have brought new hope and energy to the country.  He will have his hands full that is for sure.  Over the past fifty years there have been wars, dictators and widespread corruption in Paraguay.  He has promised to work on the poverty and strengthen the infrastructure of the country.  We will be very interested to see what happens.  There are still signs of a dictatorship  from the past throughout all of the places we have traveled in Paraguay, police stopping cars randomly ,( when we drive here, we are stopped multiple times) armed guards with machine guns and huge rifles standing guard in all of the banks, and deteriorating roads and buildings and an inadequate airport.  New road construction has begun in Asuncion already and it is encouraging to see the work taking place, providing jobs and improvements.  The roads themselves in Asuncion are very, very crowded..... and difficult to drive in..... few traffic lights, and bumper to bumper traffic almost constantly.  Nevertheless, there are many beautiful sites in Asuncion and it is a city that is very, very old and it has a kind of raw  antique charm about it.

We will still have some work to do in Paraguay and will probably visit at least one more time before we leave.

Same meeting.....this time I took the photo.... Hermano Cabanas on the far right.  He is our new AAA.

Hermano Beraud on the far right.  Presidente Dominguez (to the left of Michael)   and his counselor and auditor on the left of him.  Presidente Dominguez drove us back and forth from our hotel to all of our meetings and we enjoyed some great conversations with him.  He has a terrific sense of humor!

Michael and Hermano Cabanas

Getting ready for the secretary training.

A side garden on the temple grounds

The temple grounds were very beautiful.

Another lovely side garden

New road construction ..... viewed from our hotel window. The very red dirt is gorgeous!

INSTITUTO DE RELIGION - BUENOS AIRES

Large classroom - new section in the back of the building

Front door

Inside of front door

One of the main rooms downstairs

The large classroom upstairs has this gorgeous little balcony!

Courtyard - in the back of the building.  This is a VERY charming space.  All in tiles and orginal to the home.

This morning we walked over to the newly restored Institute of Religion next to our church building.  Restoration has been going on almost since we arrived here.  Today and tomorrow they have an open house and so we decided  to walk down and take a look and walk through the building.   It is gorgeous and stunning!   It was previously a home and the church has fully restored it plus put on a small addition  in the back, that is clean and simple.  The woodwork is articulate.  Here are a few photos of this most beautiful structure.  

The building is "English Boroque" and was built in 1926

These two adorable young ladies gave us a tour!  Marlena on the left and Evelyn on the right!

The tiled courtyard

COLONIA, URUGUAY

Building in Colonia

Two auditors in Colonia

Saturday morning we headed to Colonia early as we had a meeting set up with the district president and a couple of auditors.  We had a beautiful drive and a very productive and wonderful meeting!   Colonia is northwest of Montevideo and is a very old, old, city sitting right on the water.  It is a very popular spot for tourists and weekend visits.  We enjoyed the drive and were happy that we were able to see the countryside of Uruguay and also meet some other people from this very amazing small country.  (Our friend, Dante, describes the country of Uruguay like "One great big spa!" Everyone seems to be relaxed and happy!)  Probably a bit of an exaggeration but certainly that is a definite feeling here.

A couple of miles outside of the actual city of Colonia, the main road is lined with these amazing palm trees.  There were beautiful!

The church in Colonia.

We drove back to Montevideo late in the afternoon on Saturday.  We had an early morning meeting on Sunday in the Montevideo West Stake.  Hermano Paredes was there as it under his jurisdiction for the audits.  We met with six auditors and the audit committee chair who is the first counselor in the stake presidency.  A particularly friendly and warm group of people.  After the meeting the Committee chair, went around the room and gave each audior an abrzo and expressed his love and appreciation for each person there.  It was quite moving for me to watch this.  While I don't speak the language flently , I can understand quite a bit.  At the same time, there are many great moments for me to "observe and watch", my wonderful husband as he speaks in Spanish, and look into the joyful and expressive faces of those dedicated individuals who attend the trainings, to watch their love and devotion to one another and the Gospel is a gift for me which I share with Michael at the end of the day.

We embraced each moment of Sunday.  After our training we attended Sacrament meeting and met some great people.  We went back to our hotel, enjoyed a lovely meal and took a walk among the beautiful surrounding neighborhoods.  We returned home to Buenos Aires on Monday late afternoon.  I quickly unpacked after arriving in our apartment and headed out to shop for some groceries!  We have been really busy in the office since our return and we are now preparing to head out to Asuncion, Paraguay early Friday morning, where we will have a full schedule of trainings and meetings and we will be training a new auditor there, Hermano Cabanas.

More next week from Paraguay!