Home!!!

On our way home from Argentina, we took a wonderful few days to unwind, rest, and enjoy the beauty of this wonderful country that we will probably never visit again. Our rest stop was the Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Standing on the edge of Devils Throat Falls Amazing! Makes Niagra Falls seem tiny.

There are over 250 different falls within the park. Everywhere you walked there was another fall just around the corner in the jungle.

If you wanted you could get right under the mist of the falls.

Here we are arriving home in Salt Lake City with a big group of our wonderful children and grandchildren there to greet us. Our first time to see our new grandson, Rendon.

Steve just couldn't contain himself. Carpet at last. Had to give the carpet a big kiss.

Glad to be home in the good ole USA. Home at last.

A Lesson Learned!

Steve and I have prided ourselves on nothing bad happening while here in Argentina. We have become very comfortable going down town, riding the trolleys, taxi's etc. Almost everyone we know has had a robbery occur at some time down here. Most of the missionaries have been robbed more than once.
Well today, we headed down town. Feeling very confident and probably a bit over confident.
As we borded the trolley to head home after running our errands, Steve felt in his pocket, his wallet was gone. I looked in my purse and my camera was gone. We had been robbed. How slick they had been, we had felt nothing.
As we evaluated our trip, we had done almost everything wrong. We were an easy target. I had not turned my zippered compartment on my purse towards me, there it was an easy target. Steve had his wallet in his back pocket, not in his front pocket. He was carrying a large sum of money. He should have taken it out before leaving home. As we waited for the trolley, we were in a crowd of people. We should have moved away and waited from behind the crowd. Several times on our excursion we both had little thoughts telling us to do all the right things, we ignored them.
As I thought of what happened, I thought of what can happen spiritually.
We can grow very self-confident, become sloppy about observing the commandments, and not listen to the "still small voice". We can become a victim through our own doing. We need to stay ever vigilent, and realize that Satan is always there, just as the pickpockets were there, waiting for us to let our guard down. Ready to take advantage of our weak moments.
We are sadder but wiser from this experience. We are both glad it was just things that can not be replaced and not our souls. We share this hoping our lesson can bring safety both physically and spiritually to those we love.

How Big is Jesus Christ?

It is Easter time. A time to think of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We took a drive to a beautiful valley of Valley De Uco with the snow capped Andes mountain range in the background. There on the top of a hill overlooking the valley was a magnificent statue of Christ with His arms outstretched blessing and protecting the valley. As we approached, I could not help but think, "How big is Christ?" "How big is Christ in my life?"

The statue is about 50 feet or more high. Here He stands in comparison with the Elders who were on our trip. I could not but think, "I am very little and small in the sight of God, He has many, many people to love and care about."

But even though my picture is sideways, I looked up at those big arms and thought,"They are big enough to surround and hold me in His love. I have so felt those big arms around me here on our mission. At those times when I so pleaded for His help, He was there, and will always be there.

The marks of the nails were in His hands as a reminder of all that He gave for me. And here He stands as a reminder of the resurrected Lord .

I am so blessed to be here this Easter in a country that is not ashamed to display the Christ for all to see. He is special, and no one worries about Him offending others. He is worshipped.

How big is Christ? I don't know , but I do know His love is big enough to atone for all of us.

I love Jesus Christ.

Goodby to the Jarvis's

This is a wonderful view of the city of Mendoza with the foothills of the Andes in the background. We went to lunch at the Sheratin hotel and ate at a very lovely restuarant on the 17th floor. It was perfect! Quiet, a wonderful last adventure with our dear friends the Jarvis's.

Here we are! And I had to poke Steve to wake him up. Just kidding. The wine glasses are filled with "water sin gas" (non-carbonated) and "water con gas" (carbonated water). You can tell it was not busy. In fact we were their only customers while we were there. The service was excellent!

Here are our great friends the Jarvis's. They are from Heber, Utah. So when we go home, they will be not too far away. We already miss them. It is way lonely without them down stairs. They really made being on the mission a great experience.

Here is our table, and the view is just beautiful.

Us and the Jarvis's. "Til We Meet" has great meaning!

The "Sonda" Wind!

The "Sonda" wind comes down out of the Andes, totally unannounced. All of a sudden, huge gusts of wind come blowing ahead of it dust, dirt, and often followed by rain and hail. Last night, just as we got in bed, the wind came.

We could tell it was really strong. But we live in the 3rd little pig house made all of brick. So it blew and blew and we were safe and sound. When we got up this morning, this is the damage on our street.

The power lines were all over the yard and drive way next to the mission office. But, lo and behold we still had power. Made me wonder about the people who do not live in the brick houses like ours.

We just wait now, until another one comes. If ye are prepared, ye need not fear. Don't worry, Be Happy!

Medical Safari #1

Well, Here goes, Medical Safari #1. San Luis, Argentina. We headed out, the Jarvis, and us, in our van loaded with medical supplies, tool boxes, extension cords, cans of Raid, ironing boards, irons, curtains, the ever present black medical bag, and homemade brownies to bribe the most resistent Missionaries. One of my purposes in going was to identify medical facilities for the missionaries who become sick in this area, 4-5 hours from the mission office. What I found was that the facilites do not have brochures with all their information, so I took pictures of their boards so I could remember what they had. Two of the Sister missionaries accompanied me as translators. I can speak basic Spanish, but not enough to bargain and negotiate with hospital administrators.

I taught basic First Aide in all the zones that we went to. All the basics, bleeding, loss of breathing, CPR, etc. We had fun, and willing victims. The reward was ice cream ordered from their favorite ice cream store, Gridos.

Steve repaired and repaired. In this apartment he put up curtain rods so these lovely curtains could be hung. Notice the beautiful sunset.

It was of course fun to see some of the old cathedrals. Each town has a plaza and usually a beautiful old church right across the street.

We have been hearing since we arrived of the hail they have down here. Well, here is an example. Some of them were the size of golf balls.

He is still pretty spry, climbing on top of this apartment. Go Grandpa! At one of the apartments he fixed 10 electrical outlets.

Here is Steve on top of the roof putting a new lid on a water tank. All the water tanks down here are on top of the ground. That is how they get the water pressure to make their water run.

After 3 days of teaching first aid, visiting hospitals, and making repairs, we treated ourselves with a night at a resort on the lake. For some reason I have no pictures of the lake. The road around the lake is made so it can be a racetrack for car races. Quite a novel idea. They were going to have the big Carnival celebration here in March.


We did not make the reservations, the other couple did. The valet took us to our room, when I saw the sign on the door that said Brazil Suite, I became a bit nervous. When we went into our room, I knew a mistake had been made. I called the manager and said, this cannot be our room. It was beautiful. The most luxurious room I have ever been in. He just assured me there was no mistake, so we just pretended we were king and queen and enjoyed our royal suite.

We finished our trip with a visit to one of the wards there. The people were so wonderful. We bore our testimonies, and yes, Grandpa even did his in Spanish. The children were so darling, they all came up to shake our hands.

We went home tired, but knowing much, much had been accomplished. New hospitals were identified, new Dr.s found, apartments so much the better for us having been there.

Listen When Your Mom Gives Advice!

Who would think that I would need to rely on one of those motherly words of wisdom from my childhood to solve a mission medical problem. The phone rang. "Hermana Brown, you will never believe what I just did." I braced myself for the worst news. "I was at a member's home and they were eating prickly pear cactus." Now my interest was picking up . . ."I guess I wasn't very careful and I must not have scraped all the stickers out, because, now I have cactus stickers in my tongue and down my throat. What should I do?"
I tried not to laugh--or cry! What a predicament. But what to do? I could send him to the Dr's and have them pull the little prickles out with forceps . . .or . . .I remembered that my Mother used to tell me when I was a young child . . ."If you get any little fish bones stuck in your throat, try eating a piece of bread and it will gather up the little fish bones." Well, it was worth a try. I shared this with the missionary . . And it worked!!! It took three pieces of bread, but the little stickers are all gone.
Mom, thanks for looking out for me even down here in Argentina. I am so glad I listened once in a while to all those words of wisdom.