YOU'VE BEEN WONDERING!

Yes, we really do have a mission office and we really do go there everyday to do our work. Yes, there are missionaries here. Here is the sign on our building and here is the front hall that the Missionaries wait in before they see El Presidente, la enfermera (me), the money secretary, the secretary who handles all the records and documents, buy stuff from the Mission Store, or just

have fun seeing each other. They stop in for a cold drink and a cool place out of the hot sun.

These are our office Elders. They keep the ship running. They fix the computers, mop the floors, translate into Spanish for us, handle all the apartment stuff, and keep us laughing..
Elder Williams (California), Elder Stevenson (Idaho) and Elder Salmon (Alabama) And two pictures of Elder Brown hard at work. (I couldn't figure out how to delete the second one. Oh well.

One reason the country may be doing so poorly is that "Obama" is actually down here. I think he is hiding. We have been trying to convert him and have him change his ways.!

These missionaries are headed home, a very mixed feeling time! They were having fun, one last time together. The mission office is our home away from home. It's where our days start and end, and where the Spirit of the Lord watches out for us and these awesome Missionaries here to serve.

OUR TRIP TO THE "BIG MOUNTAIN"

This is the beautiful valley and community of UsPallata. It is like an oasis in the midst of this very barren desert. It is the jumping off place for the mountain climbers and for the river rafters. We attended the branch there. These people had testimonies bigger than the "mountain". The little branch meets in a building with a bar next door that plays latino music and seems to purposely turn in up during the meeting.

This is the "big mountain", Mt. Aconcagua. All 23,000 feet of it. It was pretty chilly and very windy. Notice--not a single tree on these huge piles of rock. We did see 3 live llamas down by one of the rivers.

Puenta de Inca on the Chile border. This hot springs empties over the rocks right into the river. The colors are amazing.

These are our friends, the Jarvis's, from Heber, Utah. They serve in the mission office with us.

OUR NEIGBORHOOD

Join us for a walk around the neighborhood. The first step is unlocking our door and the gates to our apartment building. Here are our keys. They look like keys to a treasure chest. We keep looking for it, but so far-nada.

The streets are lined with beautiful, green trees. This makes walks lovely and cool on the hot summer days. Along the edge of the trees is an irrigation ditch called a "secio". It is deep and you don't want to fall in.

The homes are of great variety. Here is the house on the corner. It is huge, has a huge, lovely yard, and of course a big wall with spikes at the top to keep unwanted people out.

And then there is the house next door. They are actually remodeling it into an apartmento.
Everything has walls around it, so it is just an invitation for the neighborhood artists. Almost all walls are decorated. Some nice, some not so nice.

This is the neighborhood car lot. The bottles on top of the cars mean they are for sale. Pretty smart, huh!

Here is our local taxi. Just call them and they come. Just kidding. These are poor people who go up and down the streets and collect anything that they are able to recycle. All day long you hear the clip, clop of the hooves, and here they come.

We live across from the Mission Office, and it is quite a safe neighborhood. We have very friendly neighbors. There is a mixture of apartments and homes. All of the apartments and homes are built right on the street with no front yards. or very small ones. Most of the homes have lovely green back yards.

Thanks for strolling with us!