Why we are in twos...

This is a list of reasons why the church always makes sure we are in twos when we are on the Lords errand (mission, internships or marriage).
1. Someone to make sure the water heater stays on while the other is in the shower. This is done by sitting in the kitchen and monitoring the gas flow into the water heater- and if it turns off, the kitchen sink must be turned on to help the hot water.
2. When walking down the street one must always help the other by making sure the bus or any other passing object doesn't smash into the other.
3. When entering the house one opens the door while the other watches the street to make sure no one trys to mug us.
4. While waiting for the bus to come, one hangs on to all the luggage while the other ones goes to the bathroom.
5. When walking on the side walk one must always be looking at the floor to make sure dog poop isn't stepped in while the other watches out for the buses and other moving objects mentioned in number 2.
6. One always has someone else who will listen about all of their recent health issues and actually be able to be sympathetic because the other also has the same problems.
7. When teaching the workshop one can rely on the other to watch the time so the other doesn't talk to long.
-Heavenly Father was a genius when he decided that two is the perfect number for missions, internships and marriage!

Salta

Salta was where we stayed for most of our time. It is a gorgeous city in the middle of hills (much like provo- but the mountains are a lot closer together). I love salta!! This is where I lived for about 2 months of my mission. This is where the three generational family lives. Usually when I talk about the Galvan family that is how I refer to them. All 6 were baptized eventually. They invited us over for lunch one day. While we were in Salta we taught a three day workshop to 20 people. It was so fun!!! I love when there are big energetic groups. Some were missionaries I knew who were just starting the mission when I left and now they are leaving. Wow- time flies. We also taught about the perpetual education fund to two different institute groups. I love being with the young single adults my age! So fun! Clary got sick our last night and the doctor was called to the hotel. She is better with medicine to control her sinuses and lungs. One night we were invited by the mission president to go out to dinner. So fun! I loved being with his family who goes home next week to Mexico after 3 years living in Argentina. We were able to go up the gondola our last day and look over the city- it is beautiful! Our favorite place in all of Argentina by far!

Tucuman

Tucuman proved to be another adventure.

We stayed with my old ward mission leader and his family the Arechagas. This picture was taken our last night and the girl in the middle is one of the girls I taught- Maria Laura. She ate dinner with us that last night. Another common trend you may see in my pictures is the black scarf that was crocheted by my last companion in the mission. I seem to wear it - hmm... well everyday that it is cold. Luckily Maria Laura bought me another one so I can alternate now. I also got to visit with lots of others, including a girl I taught but wasn't around to see her baptism. Her name is Marcela and she also wants to go on a mission. We had such an exciting time visiting with Hermana Arechaga. She fed us lunch and many dinners. When we got off the bus and first got to her house she had home made pizzas just out of the oven waiting for us. We were fed great! (a little too great..haha).

Going back to Santiago (first and last area in the mission)

Saturday night we left Santa Fe at 8 pm and arrived in La Banda, Santiago del Estero at 5 am. Rought nights sleep, but we survived. I was so anxious to see familiar land, I couldn't stop looking out the window all night. Some small set backs along the way: 1. the cell phone we use was left on the bus- so no more direct communication with everyone. 2. Carola the girl whose house we went to didn't have credit on her phone for us to use. The bright side: I got to ride on a motorcycle for my first time in Argentina- while we went to the gas station to by a calling card- to call our boss in Cordoba to tell him the news and try to find the cell phone.

Good news: People I taught- Coco and Marta got sealed in the temple and go to church, Jorge Sosa recieved his mission call to Paraguay and is currently ward mission leader. Rene is the deacons quorum president and passes the sacrament. Rita- his sister was also at church.

Sunday I went to both sacrament meetings from my first and last area in the mission. The first ward I went to asked me to give the opening prayer and as a suprise announced I would be giving my testimony. It was so great to be back there and sharing my testimony! That same day we left and went to Tucuman- a two hour bus ride on a not so nice bus! Once again- we survivied!

Last day in Uruguay

The last day in uruguay we were in Salto. I spent the afternoon with Melina while Clary visited some of her friends. This is the bus we left the country on, and always travel with. Once we got on the bus we encountered a grumpy old lady who was sitting in my seat. I didn't mind, but I tried asking which seat she was supposed to be in, so I could go sit in it, and she got mad at me. Ooops. Well- now I know not to talk to older ladies with canes, because she lifted hers up and next time I might get swatted with it. Oh well. On the way back home to Santa fe we had a layover, if you will, in a bus stop and we met a nice guy who told us all about argentina and his wifes jewish ancestory. We shared the gospel with him, and he listened. Good times had by all!

Fray Bentos

I love this little town. It is four hours north of Montevideo and to the west- closer to Argentina. Monday we woke up and had a great breakfast with Nancy Curbelo. We left with Zulma and Raul in their car to visit some of Clarys friends, but no luck. No luck at the bank either. We went back to the Curbelos (where we were staying) and we had milenesa and mashed potatoes. There is always dessert in south america and I love that! We had home made cake! After lunch we walked around the city and visited all of Clarys friends. The town was really little feeling. We woke up that day to the roosters! It was nice to be out of the big city. At night we made "tortas fritas" in a big pan of boiling fat. It was so fun!! We had family home evening and Clary prepared the lesson. It was such a cool feeling being with this family that is so loving and giving to everyone. We ate the tortas fritas and drank malta (cebada is what they call it in uruguay). The missionaries showed up and one is from Fair Oaks. We went to the leather mans house to look at the neat things he sells and while we were there the little 4 year old son peed on my leg while he was sitting on my lap. Poor kid cried of embarassment and I just chuckled and didn't worry to much about it. They say if a kids pees on you it is good luck..haha. That was the end of another great uruguayan day. The next day I went on Sister Curbelos motorcycle with her and we went to the bank real quick. Then we went to the bus stop super early and while we were saying good bye to our friends, the bus pulled out, so we had to wave it down AGAIN..

Sunday in Uruguay (day 3)

Sunday we of course went to church and I went to primary with Tricia to get some ideas on how to help out the primary here. It was a lot of fun. We were in the nursery and there was one little girl. We didn't know her name for the first bit, because she barely spoke, but finally a girl in primary helped us out with the name. We sang lots of primary songs and I went over to the CTR class where there was just one little girl about 13 years old. We played a game and I enjoyed it all! After church we went home and made some milenesas. We scraped up what food we had and made an amazing meal! HAHA... Well I was just grateful for food! The adventurous part was hurrying to the bus station where we had two minutes before the bus left and we still had to buy the ticket...so as this greyhound looking bus was driving away it opened its door and we jumped on. We rode for four hours to Fray Bentos where we stayed at the house of a family. We each had a bed to sleep in and MANY blankets. You see- it was FREEZING!!! We were just fine though and had a hot shower and there was a wood burning in the fireplace. This was at the Curbelos house. (end of day 3)

Touring Montevideo-day 2

Saturday we (of course) slept in and then went on tour of the city...

We took a tour of the theatre
Artigas

A building- I forgot to ask what it was...Well three times now i've tried to post this blog and it keeps dying on me. So here it goes again..not as detailed as before. The theatre was amazing and there was a group practicing- with big drums and all. Part of the theatre tour was two girls running in on the tour doing a silly act- it was pretty funny and we were entertained. What was neat was the act told us about some of the history of the theatre. They were a little hard to understand.. I think I need more culture in my life to help my vocab. We went to a young womens activity making home made play dough and then to a young single adult sports night. It was a great day- and we of course went to bed late- talking like girls do! (end of day 2- saturday)

3 days in Montevideo (first day)

We were greeted at the bus terminal by Rachel and Tricia (the Montevideo interns for the same program as me) and their mananger and his daughter. There wasn't enough room in the car for all of us, and our new friend Rose, so Rachel and I took the bus. Montevideo is huge! Still not as big as Buenos aires, but it is big. When we got to where we would be staying for the next three days (the other interns apartment) we were stunned by how gorgeous their view, and apartment are. They live a block from the beach (the River Plata- which is what we crossed on the ferry- basically it looks like the ocean).

We put our things down in the house and went for some typical food- Chivitos (a steak sandwhich that has more greese on it than i want to think about right now). It was wonderful! After that we hit up the local bakery- took our goods with us to the beach and rested a bit before we went out to dinner. We went to dinner at a famous italian restaurant and it was amazing!!! My hand made ravioli type noodles were in the shapes of hearts! I loved it! There was some of my favorite music playing by Eros Rammazzoti (an italian who sings spanish) and I asked the waiter, and come to find out Eros had been to that restaraunt before!! WOW! We went back to apartment and rested some more, bought some groceries and visited with a friend of Clarys until the wee hours of the morning. (end of day 1- friday)

The adventure to Uruguay: Santa fe to Buenos Aires to Montevideo

Last friday we started our adventure to uruguay at 1 am. We got on a large bus and travelled in some discomfort from santa fe to buenos aires. We got to Buenos Aires at 7 am, waited a bit for a friend from the mission and then he went with us to our next stop- Buquebus (the name of the ferry). We got on the Ferry and for 3 hours we rode that thing. It was beautiful and spacious. Clary and I sprawled ourselves across 4 seats each so we could sleep. I drank some sprite (which was rediculously expensive ($1.50 US) and munched on the crackers I had with me - oh and a half a loaf of bread.

Their was a lounge singer on the boat- who sang pretty well, but luckily I could sleep through most of it. There were so many foreigners on the boat- we had fun staring at all the other blondes from Germany and trying to figure out where they were from. Now we know why everyone stares at us all the time- I guess we do stand out. Once we got to Colonia Uruguay we jumped on another large bus and for two hours we talked with our new friend Rose on the way to Montevideo. Rose is traveling through south america and mexico for a total of two months or so and she is from Chicago. She quickly became our friend and ended up hanging out with us all weekend.

My first sight of Uruguay! There she is!

See if you can spot the blue jacket.

I have this friendship with my light blue jacket sweater that I bought for four dollars in Provo at Platos Closet second hand store. I even sleep in this thing and still wear it out. Not healthy I know. Tomorrow it will get washed (not for the first time mind you). Anyways, I think it is funny that it shows up in almost every picture. The picture of the self employment workshop is tricky- because I was wearing it, but took it off for the photo, because I realized that I have it on in every picture. See if you can spot it in all the photos!!

My primary kids!

Ok so this looks like I just tortured the kids, but really they weren't ready for the picture. Just wait until you see the video of them - you will see happy faces- I promise!

Today I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting in our ward. The exciting part was I was the third speaker, and by the time I got up to speak they still hadn't been able to get the key to open up the room that had the microphone for the pulpit in it. So I started my talk- talking very loud, then a few minutes into it they luckily found the key, put the micrphone on and I was good to go! Phew!! I spoke on "Restoring the faith of the family" by Kenneth Johnson of the 70 from last conference. It was a great talk, and I told stories about my mom and dad teaching me how to do things around the house. Remember dad when you taught me how to sharpen chainsaws. The funny thing is in my talk I didn't know the word for chainsaw- and the story came to me in that moment- so I said- "you know the machine that cuts trees"- they understood, so it was ok! Today I also taught 4 primary kids for two hours. Holy moly they wore me out. After drawing houses and talking about God's house (the temple) they drank some hot chocolate and ate some cookies. I taught them about forgiveness, so I also taught them "do as i'm doing" song (Hazlo conmigo- in spanish) and "Head, Shoulders, knees and toes" (Cabeza, cara, hombros, pies). Notice the tranlastions are not the same- so instead it is "Head, face, shoulders, feet"- that is hard to act out after many years of "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in primary. Oh well-- anyways.. we had fun and I printed out happy faces for them to color. Tonight we teach a fireside to young adults!!! Wow-- I love life!

Peteco Carabajal and Chacarera

Last night we went with Matias, Martin, and Andres to a Peteco Carabajal concert! Folk music in argentina is amazing!! I love it! He is from Santiago del Estero and so am I (That is where I started my 18 month mission, so I claim it as my home town). There was lots of dancing and I have a video of me trying it out. This was one of the best events we have gone to. I love dancing and I loved how friendly everyone was. Matias taught me how to do some of the dancing- which he promised he would continue teaching me (no worries, he is getting ready for a mission- so no mom i'm not marrying him and staying in Argentina :) It was an outside concert in the courtyard of a university (old school building- totally colonial). Afterwards we hung out on the steps of the university and I kinda taught them how to do some swing/country moves. They are fascinated with tap dancing in the US, so Clary busted out a move or two and wowed them!

Futbol with Mayoraz

The sister missionary (hermana Perez) on the left is one of the sisters I taught at the MTC. Her ward was having an activity so we went and played sports and ate chicken. I found myself getting in the middle of under 12 year old boys playing soccer and then again playing volleyball with the ward members. Everyone thought we were missionaries, so we had to constantly tell them we weren't. It ended up being a good time to publize a little more what the workshops are that we are teaching. The ward was soo good to us and we want to go back!

Self Employment Workshop

This is our first graduating class of the self-employment workshop. We are noticing a trend in low attendance. This is not good- but we know that it can will only get better! We had a lot of fun. This class was held on saturday mornings from 9 am - 1pm (two saturdays in a row). Carlos on the left is so great and too bad you can't see his leopord print collared shirt... he cracks us up!

3, three, tres

We don't know why, but Heavenly Father does. There were only three in the workshop this week. We were pretty bummed about that- but then we realized that these three needed super one on one attention, so its good it was only three. Clary played her violin for them today (

their last day) and we really enjoyed getting to know this group better. The girl next to me is getting baptized in a week. She is 17 and is incredibly nice. The other two are father and son. We really didn't think the son was going to come back after the first day, but he suprised us and graduated and participated. The second day he looked super bored, so I put up two chairs as a goal and crumpled up a piece of paper as a ball and had him try to make a goal. It was suprisingly successful and at the end when we share what we liked- he shared that!

LOCRO

Last night we were invited to eat Locro at our new favorite families house- the Espinosas! Locro is a traditional dish and is only eaten twice a year (but last night they made an exception for us). It has wheat, garbanzos, different meats with their bones (this time we had pigs feet), chorizo (sausage), white beans, squash, and seasonings. I love it!!!! We had a lot of fun watching the youngest (Maximiliano) plays his guitar while Yamilla (an award winning tango singer and his aunt) sang some tango for us. The tradition has been that afterwards they take us home in their big red truck, that reminds me of an 1950s army truck- it is so loud but spacious! We love them! Sister Espinosa even gave me a little loaf of home made bread to take home (sorry- I will be fat when I get home- I blame the bread).

Self Employment Workshop

We gave our first self employment workshop this past saturday. The exciting thing about this workshop is we have never seen it taught before, and we were only given an overview of this workshop at our training. The spanish version of this workshop just came out for the first time a few weeks before we taught it. (There are a few spelling errors, so we are asked to help headquarters find all the errors). This is a saturday morning class for four hours!

La Costenera and Parana

We had a miracle week in Parana. It is the city that is an hour away- where we taught the career workshop this past week. The day before we went we found out that the word hadn't got out to ANYONE that we were coming, so we made some quick phone calls and went on faith that we would have people to teach. We showed up and so did our friends we had made a few weeks earlier when we went to meet the people of Parana. It was a miracle! The graduating class was small, but we met a lot of people who will come in July to the next workshop. One of the girls we taught served with Corrin Payne in Chile- and she is amazing! She is the only member in her family and speaks perfect english (oh and she is the stake young womens president :) She invited us to come early on friday and showed us around town- her name is Romina. We went to the beach of the giant river and walked around a gorgeous park. We had so much fun!!!! Besides the freezing cold weather and the crazy bus rides... we enjoyed every minute of our mini adventure in Parana.

GIANT CAKE!

We have really made great friends with the young single adults. I wasn't here in Santa Fe last week for my birthday so they planned a suprise birthday for me! We went to sports night last night and played volleyball. I jumped in on a game of soccer with the primary kids that were there too. I've decided I need to have lots of boys- so I can play soccer with them (and if they are girls... they will play too of course!!!) We had rented "Enchanted" to watch with the young single adults, so after we played sports they took us inside and had a room prepared with the tv and a GIANT CAKE!! It was 4 layers high (two cakes)! I was amazed!!! They put a firework on top (their idea of candles here) and they sang to me in spanish then in english. Click here for the video. We watched enchanted in spanish and even the primary kids came in to see all the fun we were having. It was one of the best birthdays ever!!!!