What do the Viejitos do on Last Night in Mendoza!

They eat lasagne, brownies, and fly paper airplanes! Let me explain. This was a very different transfer. Usually the viejitos (the missionaries going home) have their special dinner with the President on their last night, with a very special testimony meeting. But for various reasons, this was held on Sunday night, and so on Monday, after their exit interviews with the President they had not another thing scheduled for the rest of the day and the evening.

I had expected the two Hermanas to eat with us as they were spending the night there. But they were busy shopping and visiting. . so I decided to just bake a big pan of lasagne that could be eaten any time. During the afternoon, we discovered that two of the Elders had no plans for dinner and really had no place to go. So, hey we can feed two more! So we added two more plates to the table.

We had just started to eat and the door bell rang. There stood two more hungry, going home missionaries with no place to go or eat. So we added two more plates to the table. Now we had the whole group. The lasagne was soon gobbled up and then the fun started.

Everyone made their very best paper airplanes. Every size and description. Mine of course was so original. Then we all went up to the roof and sailed our planes into the night sky. One of mine actually went far enough to land in the tree outside our window. It was so fun! Steve actually is one of the very best paper airplane designers in the whole mission although he was outdone by Hermana Hussey from Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Then it was downstairs to have brownies. Hermana Jarvis had made a pan of the most delicious brownies. Then it was visiting! Sharing mission experiences, and finally after much coaxing we got the Elders to leave and we all went to bed, thinking of how to design our next, best paper airplane and the viejitos dreaming of their plane flight home.

The Hermana Conference

The conference was held at the Mission Home. The night before all 17 stayed at a hotel and giggled and laughed the whole night. Only twice a year do all the Hermanas get to be together as a total group.

The day started with a craft where they made little jewelry boxes, which were later filled with a pearl necklace, bracelet, and earrings. A gift from the Mission and a remembrance of the talk given by Sister Lindahl, Mission President's wife.










Next it was a tango demonstration. Very awesome, and we all got to learn to dance "elegantly" as the tango is an elegant dance. Our instructors were so much fun, and so graceful.

Hermanas can have fun! Just get them together and it starts.

It is a day of fun, and great inspirational talks, and lots and lots of wonderful food.

Anyone for a back massage? Two started and soon there was a whole chain.
I gave a talk on self Esteem and Health. I focused on "Bloom where you are planted".

Here we are! All the Hermanas of the Mision Mendoza, Argentina. Until next spring when we get to do this again.

Polly Pockets

On the day of the Cafe Rio party, one of the Elders very thoughtfully gave me this most unusual plant. As he handed it to me, there was one of these very unique blooms. It looked just like a purse, complete with a flap on top. I noticed there were many little "purses" ready to to open and bloom. Well, lo and behold, I have a plant now loaded with many, many purses. Hence the name "Polly Pockets".
She sits on the table with Panchita, and I think Panchita (my gold fish) really enjoys her new friend.
On a spiritual note, my "polly pocket" plant is a symbol of all the gifts we have been given by God. We cannot have enough purses or bags to hold them all. When one falls off there will be more blessings to take its place.

Cafe Mision Mendoza aka Cafe Rio!

Does your mouth ever just water for a food that you just love and just isn't available anywhere around. My mind and my taste buds just started to wander back to Utah and visions danced in my head of my favorite place, Cafe Rio. Oh, if I could just have one of their big salads or burritos.
Well, thanks to the aid of Google and the internet, it wasn't long before I had more recipes all claiming to be the authentic, or just as good as authentic, or even better than authentic Cafe Rio dishes. I scanned over them, and to my dismay a few ingredients just were not available down here--especially tomatillos and flour tortillas. So back to the computer. What do you substitute for tomatillos, nada. Oh well. What do you substitute for ranch dressing mix--lo and behold, homemade recipes for ranch dressing. How do you get flour tortillas--lo and behold you make them yourself.
So to the store I go. Let's see, pork- check; cilantro-check; avocados--check; coca cola-check; Nope, no tomatillos, but we're going to do this. Away to my kitchen. Got my apron on! Cafe Rio here we come. I cooked, and I made substitutions, and lo and behold , it worked. The Green chili rice was scrumptious. The Pork Barbacoa-superb. The creamy tomatillo dressing (renamed creamy cilantro dressing) delicious! The homemade tortillas-yum!
The reason for the dinner was to celebrate and honor three of our office elders who will be transferred out this next week. It took many trips over to the office, but it was finally all set up. There was a sign--Cafe Mision Mendoza--thought we might have franchise problems if we called it Cafe Rio. There was a menu posted! There was a line you had to stay in as you went to the long table and made your dishes--burritos and salad.
The comments made all the work worth it, 'This is awesome! Just as good as Cafe Rio! Better than Cafe Rio! This is the best meal I have had on my mission!" It was fun! A challenge! and now just have to wait until my taste buds start dreaming again.

Escuela Hogar-Eva Peron-4 Stake Service Project

This was a service project to clean the school grounds for this orphanage here in Mendoza. There are about 350 children that attend school here, from ages 4-14.

Members and friends from 4 stakes gathered to clean and make the grounds safe for the children to play.

Steve and I even got into the act. It was great to be a part of such a great thing. To help is what it is all about.

The San Martin Young Women all came ready with their sticks and their smilesto pick up paper.

Elders in action. Some working a little harder than others, The smiles say it all.

They all wanted to show off their big muscles. There were not many tools, so they just got in and pulled with their hands. Many huge truck loads of weeds and debri were hauled away.

A tired, but very happy bunch of missionaries from Mision Mendoza. And a very grateful school for the service rendered.

Belated Birthday Adventure!

Well, it is never too late to celebrate a birthday. Mine was delayed due to the visit of the Mision Area President and critical medical situations. No time for birthday parties! Although it was not forgotten by friends and family. Thank you for all your messages. The missionaries all sang Happy Birthday to me in both Spanish and in Ingeles. And the Office Elders gave me a bottle of treasured pure grape juice.


The Mision business was over and all the Senior Missionaries; Us, the Javis's, and the Lindahl's all decided to celebrate. They let the decision be mine. I hate that. I chose to do an outdoor adventure--visit Villavencencia and the cemetery in Las Heras. So off we went, dressed in our P-Day best.
The park we went to is in the foothills of the Andes, due west of Mendoza. As we entered the park, the vegetation changed to trees and grass. We stopped at the visitor center. This comemorated the passage way over the Andes by San Martin and his army--hundreds of years ago.
The high light of the visit was going to the old hotel, no longer in use. I could just imagine it filled with elegant people. The gardens and the patios were still beautiful.

Tucked next to the hotel was a beautiful, quaint, old chapel--almost 90 years old. Inside is one of the most beautiful murals of the last supper I have ever seen. The individual apostles were each a work of art.

Before we left this beautiful place, I took time to pretend to cook on the Argentine type oven where they do their "asados", and of course I could not pass up the opportunity to pet this friendly lama.

Next was the trip to the Las Heras Cemetery. Whew, what a scary experience. This was like no cemetery I have ever seen. I have always been fascinated by cemeteries. This was amazing, covering over 8 city blocks and still room to grow. Their were areas very old and crumbling--like something out of a horror movie, and then other areas where wealthy families owned family tombs. You could look right in and see the caskets, and family members could go into them and be by their deceased. The poor people were just buried in the ground with little white crosses. We were told that you rent your space for your coffin. If you stop paying your rental fee, they just take your casket out and dump the bones out in the garbage. They do not embalm down here, so funerals have to be held, by law, the day after the person dies.

Places for ashes and coffins.

One of the main walk ways, lined with individual family tombs.


The wall around the cemetery. The small graves for the poor people.

This is what was on the inside of the wall. Old, crumbling, decrepit casket slots. Creepy!
But this is part of the Argentine culture. This is part of their life.

We finished the day off by eating at our favorite restaurant down in Central Mendoza. I was given a small silver angel complete with magic wand by Sis Jarvis, and Sis Lindahl gave me a pair of leather and sheepskin slippers. I loved both gifts. It was a great birthday.

Super Bautismo!

This was a special day that the Valle De Uco zone had waited for . Their super "White Baptism". They had been working hard! Their goal was to have 25 people ready for baptism. These are very humble people. The branches and wards are very small. They wanted the new converts to get the feeling of belonging to a larger group. To give them strength in numbers. So the decision was made to have all the baptisms for the month of August to be done on a special day, at a special time, all at the Stake Center.
We have grown so close to so many of the missionaries from this zone, that it became an event we didn't want to miss. This is what a mission is about, bringing people to that first step, becoming a member of Christ's Church.
We drove down with three of the Elders. One of them, Elder Miles was finishing his mission the following Monday, so this was his last weekend in the mission, and he had served for months as a zone leader there. We arrived, and there was just a flurry of activity in every direction. Elders and new converts all dressed in white everywhere. The Chapel was packed with friends and family awaiting the special event. The poster in the lobby gave the names of all those to be baptized. 18 in all. That is awesome.
It was very difficult to round up everyone for a group foto, but here is the majority. What an amazing site. Young and old. Ready to be baptized.



One of the young women ready to be baptized by Elder Manqui!

The smiles on the faces tell it all. What joy that comes when you are doing the things Jesus would have us do.

A group foto. Once again only part of the people. We were so touched by the testimonies and love shared by these people. We drove home knowing we had been witness to the work of the Lord.