My birthday in Argentina

These are pictures from our first day in Buenos Aires. We left friday night at 11:30 pm and arrived in Buenos Aires at 6 am. The kids kept it lively. We had brought microwave popped popcorn and all the kids loved us! I have really cute videos of them. The highlight of my birthday was being able to go to the temple- first time in a month!!! I was so happy to be inside! It was special because two of my companions got to be there with me. We got picked up by Allen -clary's relative (clary- is the other girl on the internship with me and has family in buenos aires). We went to their house and they fed us lunch- it was amazing!!! This family is my favorite family in all of argentina- they remind me a lot of my own family- and are so HILARIOUS!! Even grandma! After dinner we went and checked our stuff in the hotel and went out sight seeing. We got to see some really cool things - like two ships that are museums and down town buenos aires. We met up with my companions again and we had dinner. 10 bucks and all the meat I could eat- but kidneys, and other weird things weren't my favorite part of the meal.. haha. My birthday ended and I truly enjoyed all of it! We went to bed late and the next day started another adventure!....

Birthday Song video

Click on this for the birthday song video! After one of the workshops the students sang to me!!!

Santa Fe North Graduating Class

I love these people! They even sang happy birthday to me after the closing prayer! Clary and I grow very attatched to the groups we teach. I'm glad we still have 2 months here so we can still see their progress. Juan (left back row) just got baptized four months ago and already teaches seminary. Mirta (front row left) got baptized five year ago and is a single mother with a ginormous heart. Rosana (in pink) is a return missionary. Gladis (in green shirt) sows for a living. The tall man in the back, Mario, is a painter and he knows how to bbox- I have it on video! Jorge and Mariela (back middle and second row third from left) just got sealed/married in september and they sing beautifully ( I have a video of that too). Ileana (right middle row) is an amazing young adult. She has been on two mini missions and is a powerhouse when it comes to knowledge both scholastically and religiously. She helped us out a lot! These are the types of people I get to meet and rub shoulders with every day. There are so many more stories!!! I am keeping a journal...so my kids can read about them someday!

I ofcourse got us lost

Well- the moral of the story is "never take the #5 bus". Clary and I decided to take a self guided tour of Santa Fe. We left at about 10:30 am and started walking to the museum of fine arts "museo de bella artes". We walked and walked and walked (almost like the pioneer song), and sweat and sweat and sweat some more. (If I haven't mentioned already, it is recordly hot here in Santa Fe- it should be winter, but it is no where near winter weather- how lucky we are to mostly have brought winter clothes). Well we found some cool stores on the way, and I tried on a one piece bathing suit (that looked like from the olden days). We checked out the "casa de gobierno" (government house) full with pigeons and people. (The picture is taken from there). We finally made it to the museum at 12:20- and guess what time it closed- 12!!! Haha, well we heard it closed at 1- but Rita (our new friend) let us in anyways and gave us a tour. She liked saying "yes" and everything else she said was in spanish. We learned a lot from her, but what we didn't learn correctly was how to go back home on a bus. I led us astray and we took a #5 bus heading way far out of the city, so we realized it, jumped off, and found our way back to a familiar bus stop- but the #5 was coming so I said, hey lets take this one... (again we got lost)-so we ended up just walking home! No more #5 buses for us!

We love SANTA FE NORTH

What has been so fun about this second group is we knew half of them before they came to the workshop. It has been a lot of fun teaching them. This picture is not the best, but it kinda shows me teaching the class. The girl looking at me is Ileana (cookie) and she is amazing in the workshop. She is one of the younger ones, but she is very knowledgable. The exciting adventure is the dry erase markers we have are poor quality, and the overhead projecter had to be brought to this stake center (they don't all have one). We probably won't use it except for in Santa Fe. The other exciting thing, was waiting for the bus afterwards (about 10:30 at night) in a bad neighborhood, so we went back to the church and called a taxi (remis)- which costs us 15 times what is would have cost to take the bus (hopefully we get reimbursed). Everything we do, every moment is an adventure. Making copies, buying bus tickets- it's not that easy- it takes time and planning. No jumping in the car and running around to Staples and walmart. I love these people. The three people on the bottom picture are amazing. Claudio on the left is a bishop here. Jorge in the middle is a branch president. Mariela is Jorges wife and for her to get baptized was a big leap of faith- her family still disowns her to this day. (This is a common story for many who get baptized here, because if your whole family is of another religion, you are looked down upon if you change to being "mormon"). Be grateful for the family you have you accepts you no-matter what religion you are! Mariela has a voice of an angel and she sang some Mariah Carey to me (she doesn't know english, but can sing it). Her husband and her sing duets and it is beautiful! The red and green cards are for when someone does something good they hold the green one up and if someone says something negative they hold the red one up (we applaud more than we use the cards).

They love their futbol

When the local soccer team looses, then so do the church's windows. This is what happens when Union doesn't win it's soccer game and the locals attack the church building. They throw things at the church and try to break the windows. Not very nice!

JAS (Jovenes Adultos Solteros or YSA)

The young adults in Santa Fe North are so good to us. They teach us how to drink mate and talk in "vos" (informal way to speak). Both of which we still have problems with! I burn my tounge every time I drink mate (an herbal drink with hot water and sugar, a metal straw is used). We are going to a family home evening tonight with them. They have done good about taking care of us!

(From left to right Cookie (Liliana), Cynthia, me, Belen).