THE BEAGLE CHANNEL

Puerto Williams, Chile  There is a small branch here and Hermano Tossen is responsible for these audits being completed twice a year.    In the winter Puerto Williams is often inaccessible ...

Penguins!

Imperial Cormorant birds….. they were beautiful

Leaving the harbor of Ushuaia

On our last day in Ushuaia, Hermano Tossen told us that we must take boat ride into the Beagle Channel to see the southern most lighthouse, seals and thousands of birds, and also Sea Lions. He made arrangements with a boat company that would give us a five hour tour of the channel.   We enjoyed a brisk walk to the harbor early the next morning and arrived early enough to get a good seat on the small boat that would take us onto the channel.  The boats are called Catamaran's  …….  the channel was pretty rough and it was quite a ride!  Here are some of the sights that we saw…..

The harbor in Ushuaia.  I love the red boats!

The Beagle Channel

EL FIN DEL MUNDO - USHUAIA!

Arriving in Ushuaia was very exciting even though it was at night.  The days are very long there right now so darkness doesn't fall until around 10 pm.  We got settled into our hotel and had a really good nights rest after such a great adventure that day!

Ushuaia is known as the southern most city in the world.  It has a rival for that position, however, Puerto Williams, Chile which I will show you a photo of later in another post.

One of the nice things about the location of our hotel was that it was only a couple of blocks away from  the church where we would attend a small branch on Sunday.  We arose early and had a nice brisk walk to the meeting house.

The branch we attended was really great! The branch was a pretty good size and the people were very friendly and welcoming.  We really enjoyed all of the meetings.

Hermano Tossen arranged a meeting for that evening and it turned out to be a great meeting and the people we met were exceptionally nice.  They seemed to have a really good working relationship with each other and it was fun to watch and listen to them interact with each other.

Hermano Tossen gives excellent trainings and Michael closed the meeting with a great message as well.    
We thought the brother on the far right looks like our bishop in Goldendale, and the brother standing next to Michael thought I looked like his sister in-law and he showed me a picture.  It was funny and we had a good laugh over all of that!

The Ushuaia District!

The next day Hermano Tossen arranged for a local person that he knew, Hermano Flores to drive us to the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego.  It was almost a full day of seeing the park and it was beautiful!
It was so peaceful and the wildlife was amazing and we really embraced the moment.

On our way, we passed by a car that had gone into the ditch and Hermano Flores wanted to help the man so he quickly turned the car around and he and Michael got out of the car to see how they could help.

An adorable little boy across the street was watching intently and we were able to capture these photos of him!

He was absolutely adorable!

The national park was breathtaking and I cannot begin to show all of the photos… but here are just a few.

Michael and I at the southern most point of the park!  It was cold but very beautiful!

Two Fuegian Red Fox!  They came right up to the car!

The Martial Mountains

We had a really wonderful day…. the peace of the country made us a bit homesick. ….. That evening, we had a meeting with two people from the Mount Olivia Branch …. and we had a wonderful and produictive meeting.

TIERRA DEL FUEGO!

The Straits of Magellan

Getting on the ferry!

When we first arrived in Buenos Aires to begin our mission, we took out our South American map and began to plan our travels to the different assistant auditors.  The South America South Area is divided by Missions or also called Coordinating Councils.  Each assistant auditor has one council or mission which is the designation of the stakes and districts that he will cover.  When we met Hermano Tossen last year at our conference,  he expressed to us that we should come and see him in Ushuaia and attend some trainings with him.  Trying to find the right period of time to go is a little tricky as in the winter, June, July, August, and part of September, the roads are bad and there is a lot of snow and ice in the southern part of Patagonia.   During this past winter after we completed our task as executive secretaries,  we told Hermano Tossen that we would like to come and see him in November, (end of spring and just the beginning of summer).  He was very welcoming to the idea and planned this amazing journey which the three of us took together!

We had always wanted to drive to Ushuaia as a challenge, but Elder Zeballos told  us that it would be too difficult to get a church car across the border into Chile, as one has to pass through a portion of Chile to get to Ushuaia.  So when Hermano Tossen told us of his plan for the three of us to drive from Rio Gallegos to Ushauia together we were thrilled and looked forward to this adventure with great anticipation!  Hermano Tossen is an amazing person!  He is the director of a very large school in Ushuaia, but also is very involved in the church in the Comodoro Rivadavia Mission.  He is a counselor in the mission presidency, a Public Affairs Director for the area, and an assistant auditor.  He is a very busy guy!  Yet he planned this "training journey" for the three of us and it was truly a great experience.  We discussed many things on the road: the church, family, audit work…. and he shared some of his hopes and dreams …..

We left Rio Grande around 6:00 on Saturday evening. We headed south towards Chile (if you look at a map of Southern Patagonia, you will see that the country of Chile comes quite far east and takes a chunk of Patagonia for the Chileans…… If an Argentine is traveling to Ushuaia by car he must past through this section of Chile.)  A couple of hours down the road we hit the entrance to Chile.  This was the infamous border crossing we had heard about.  There were a lot of parked cars!!!  We had to park our car as well and get out and stand in line with our documents to enter Chile!  The wait was 1 1/2 hours ….. partly in the cold, partly in the building.  I can't begin to explain the entire process but it was long and not simple!  I have to say however, that most people were quite cheerful during the wait!  After that task was completed, we continued south.  (during the day we would have to pass through, and yes, get out of our car , two more immigration points.)

The next step of our journey involved getting on a Chilean ferry and crossing the Straits of Magellan and onto the island of Tierra del Fuego, the southern most province of Argentina.

This is the Chilean ferry….

After about a half hour ride on the ferry, we continued south on the Chilean gravel road  which went for miles and miles.  On this road we saw some great old farmhouses, Patagonian Sheep and beautiful Guanacos, and a flock of pink Flamingos!

 

Patagonian sheep.  The wool used from these sheep is called "Fuegan Wool", as the sheep are from the province of Tierra del Fuego.

Guanacos!

At dusk we began to enter the outskirts of Ushuaia….. It was very beautiful!!

It was an amazing journey with Hermano Tossen and one we will never forget….. He was so very gracious and kind and made sure we saw anything on the way that was unique or special…… We were yet to experience wonderful visits with members in Ushauaia….. and we were looking forward to meeting Hermano Tossens' family….

RIO GRANDE

We left early in the morning, Saturday to head to Rio Grande for a meeting in the afternoon.  It was about a 6-7 hour drive as our meeting was late in the afternoon.  The plan was to have the meeting or training, and then head on to Ushuaia arriving around 10:00 pm on Saturday evening.

We arrived in Rio Grande between 2:30 and 3:00 Saturday afternoon.  Hermano Tossen knew of a "pizza place" so that is where we landed for lunch.  I beleive he had eaten there before.  I wish now that I had taken a photo of it.  At any rate, we ordered pizza…….. it actually was very good!  The Argentines do not use pepperoni or many meats on their pizzas, mostly vegetables and cheeses.  The pizza in Buenos Aires is not that good, at least what we have found…. so it was good to have a great tasting slice of pizza.

Hermano Tossen is a counselor in the Comodoro Rivadavia Mission so he had obligations to fulfill with some members before we started the training.  Michael and I waited in a room and visiting with adorable young families, and some new converts to the church while we were waiting for Hermano Tossen.  It was a really sweet experience.  I wish now that I had taken more photos of these wonderful people that we visited with, but I don't like to appear obnoxious about taking photos of people.  However, their faces will always be in our memories….. especially of this sweet little girl.  She was about 10 years old.

At any rate, I do have one very sweet photo.  This young girl, (I can't remember her name..) came in and just sat by Michael and started visiting with us.  She was adorable!  We helped her with some of her English she had been learning……. her parents were very nice….. it appeared that she was the oldest child of I think four children.

LEAVING EL CALAFATE AND MEETING IN RIO GALLEGOS!

Our bus!  There are always a lot of backpackers here in El Calafate!

After spending two days in El Calafate, our plan was to head to Rio Gallegos on a bus and meet up with Marcelino Tossen, our assistant auditor for the region.  A few months ago, Hermano Tossen planned this trip for all three of us, and he did an amazing job as it all went like "clock work!"

We took a large double decker bus from El Calafate to Rio Gallegos.  It was about a four hour journey.
As we were leaving El Calafate the bus had to make a stop at the "Policia" checkpoint which is usually located at the beginning and or ending of almost every city in Argentina.  We had never been on the bus before so we were surprised at the procedure for the bus.  The police actually board the bus and check every passenger.  To our surprise, Hermano Guiterrez, from the Calafate branch, was the particular policeman who boarded  our bus!  We got a nice nod and a handshake from him!

Before leaving the hotel, we took a short walk after breakfast and took a few last photos of El Calafate… it was hard to leave… we had really enjoyed our brief stay here…

This was as close as we could get to the "pink Flamingos"…. but just seeing that pink color in the distance was a thrill!

Patagonian sheep!

After the meeting with the Rio Gallegos District.  We are frequently served refreshments after meetings and we enjoy a great social time with the district presidencies and audit committees!  Presidente Fernandez in the blue sweater.  His brother, Martin is a friend of ours and an assistant auditor north, in Resistencia.

We had a very good meeting here in Rio Gallegos… lots of discussion and sorting out of facts and problems.   We stayed over night in Rio Gallegos and enjoyed a late night light supper with Hermano Tossen.  We headed out the next morning very early for Rio Grande!