May 25, 2014

I was thinking today about a few things that have changed in the mission since we arrived in July 2011...

1. The mission divided in July 2013. The province of Misiones as well as Ituzaingo, Virasoro and Santo Tome all were transferred to the new Mision Argentina Posadas.

2. Instead of having 10 member districts and 4 stakes, there are now 6 member districts and 3 stakes in the mission boundaries.

3. A new Walmart was opened in Resistencia bringing the total of Walmarts in the mission to: 2!

4. Speaking of openings, a new Subway store was opened in Corrientes bringing the total of Subways in the mission to: 1!

5. Missionaries were sent to: Fontana, Chaco; Puerto Tirol, Chaco; Quitilipi, Chaco; CGT, Chaco; and Avellaneda, Santa Fe.

6. Missionaries are making periodic visits to: Bartolome de Casas, Formosa; Herradura, Formosa; Ensanche, Formosa; and La Primavera, Formosa.

7. Missionaries returning home now fly to Buenos Aires in one hour and twenty minutes rather than take the bus sixteen hours from Resistencia overnight. (Aerolineas Argentinas stopped canceling the Resistencia to Buenos Aires flight).

8. Some (not all yet) interviews with local leaders in far away places are taking place via video conferencing...when it works.

9. Goya and Reconquista were combined to form the Rio Parana District. Maybe coincidentally an air shuttle business recently opened that will fly people from one city to the other in about 15 minutes...or you can take the 3 hour ferry or the 5.5 hour drive....

10. Missionaries have served in the mission from 30 different countries.

11. Young men aged 18 and young women aged 19 began serving in the mission.

12. The number of sister missionaries climbed from 21 to 80.

13. Sister Leader Trainers (Hermana Lideres Capacitadoras) began doing divisions and participating in Mission Leader Councils.

14. The toll to cross the General Belgrano Bridge that connects Resistencia and Corrientes has increased from 50 centavos to 4 pesos. The price of gasoline has increased from 2 pesos to 14 pesos a liter.

15. The mission no longer picks up packages sent to missionaries from outside of Argentina.

16. Heading south on the avenue 25 de Mayo leaving Resistencia you can no longer make any left hand turns.

17. Howard Johnson's is building a new hotel and casino on the outskirts of Resistencia.

18. We no longer have a backlog of visa waiting missionaries serving in other countries. At one point we had about 70 missionaries serving in other missions waiting for their visas.

19. Every ward or branch now has at least 2 missionaries serving in it, and all those with Hermanas also have Elders serving in the same unit.

20. The majority (but not all) of pensions have air conditioning units and are starting to get water filters installed.

21. The BMW dealership on the corner of where we live has become an Audi dealership.

22. I can understand what they are saying on the radio, and over the loudspeaker at airports, terminals and stores...(first time in 40 years of speaking spanish.

And....23. I think there is more grey in my hair than when we arrived!

etc. etc. etc.