Genealogy

We keep on making connections with family and friends and family of friends and friends of family...here is what I mean...






Future Elder Trotter and our daughter Jennifer at a practice of the Cultural Celebration for the Gilbert Temple. He has his mission call to Resistencia!





The Arringtons, our son Taylor's Mission President and wife.







Elder Taylor Lythgoe, one of "The Three Taylors"!





Hermana Saavedra, a dancer in Chile...





Hermana Saavedra, her twin sister a missionary in Resistencia!





The Sister on the right is a friend of my sister Barbara. The Sister on the left is the sister of my former Assistant, Will Gochnour.








Returned Hermana Rojas coming back to visit with us!





Our niece Chelsea at the MTC in Provo checking out our picture.





Hermana Skirvin, whose sister serves in Resistencia with Taylor in Chile.





Diane and me receiving a portrait of...Diane and me!





Elder Heyman and Elder He-man! A member artist drew that for him on the wall of his pension.





A missionary who served in Resistencia with our son, Chris.





Taylor with Andrew Lark, Chris' freshman roommate...both Andrew and Taylor ended up serving in the Chile Concepcion Mission...and there are too many friend and family connections to even begin mentioning.





Steve Rockwood and me. We knew of each other for years through our mutual friend Jeff Wells but met for the first time in Resistencia when he came with Elder Alan Packer on a family history tour!





This deserves its own blog post. Presidente La Pierre presides over the Posadas Mission, which split off from the Resistencia Mission. We met for the first time in the Posadas Airport. As we talked we learned that he had lived in Newburgh, New York at the same time I had lived in Poughkeepsie, New York...two small branches in neighboring communities in upstate New York. Who could have known that some 40 plus years later we would be presiding at the same time over the missionaries in Northern Argentina!!





Speaking of missionaries, this is just a great photo of Elder M. Russell Ballard and his wife at our Mission Presidents' Seminar in Santiago, Chile.





Now, these are two women on a mission!!! Diane and Debbie Carter were walking down an avenue in Buenos Aires with a purpose and determination. There was a large Carrefour Supermarket that Diane "just knew" would have canned tomato soup, which she could not find in Resistencia. One of the Office Elders gave her a recipe for his favorite cake and asked if she would bake it for him for his birthday...which is in April!!!! Anyway, it calls for a can of tomato soup and Diane was not going to let him down....

A Few of the People We Saw in Santiago

Elder Taylor Lythgoe


Sister Saavedra, twin to our Sister Saavedra


We saw ourselves at the Santiago Temple


Taylor Heyman's Mission President and wife, the Arringtons, with his parents


Left to right, Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, an unknown member of the Security, Sister Ballard, Elder M. Russell Ballard, a daughter of the Ballards and Elder Ronald A. Rasband plus part of someone's chest!



"The Group That Arrived in 2011"...the Avilas, the Heymans, the Giulianis, the Levrinos and the Carters.



And a photo of the Carters and Heymans in Buenos Aires.

For Those of You Who Do Not Follow Me on Instagram

I try to put a photo related to the mission on Instagram each day. Some of these were posted there.





The Fort Knox of Chocolate Marshmellow Cookies!





A great picture of Diane (and the rest of us) taken in Barrio 1 in Resistencia.






Just happen to drop by the Mission Office with hair in need of a cut...before...





And after! The looks say it all. You are welcome, Elder!





We love it when Chris' mission buddies stop by with their wives for a visit...





And we love it when MY mission buddies stop by with their wives, too!





His Grandpa Mario had a moustache similar to one of those...





I saw this on the street in Corrientes and thought, "Pretty clever way to protect the seat and avoid burns when getting on"...





Then I walked a little farther and saw this and thought imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!






Two of my missionaries met a man in Ibarretta who said that my son Chris had taught him years ago and had this picture to prove it...





This photo was taken right after the young man who lent me his bike yelled to tell me that the bike did not have any brakes!







I love it when young women can not get enough of Diane.





Zone Leaders locking up a chapel in Formosa.





And if you are going to survive in Argentina, you better know your cuts of beef! Our local butcher hands out calendars with primers on cuts of beef!

Culinary Delights

Here is a sampling of some of the little things that have helped keep smiles on missionaries' faces...







Cinnamon Rolls (panes de canela)





Turkey, mash potatoes and all the trimmings (la pavita con todo)





Chicken salad, croissants and cookies (ensalada de pollo, medialunas y galletitas)






Barbecued steaks (bifes de chorizo a la parrilla)





Strawberry cupcakes with Skittles (cupcakes de frutilla con Skittles)





Oreo cupcakes (cupcakes de Oreos increíbles)





Dark chocolate wrapped white cake with chocolate creme filling (no hay palabras para describir la riqueza de esta torta...la favorita de todos)





Grilled hamburgers (hamburguesas al gringo)





The now world famous and highly sought after Lemon Brownies (brownies de limon celestiales)






The Master Chef hand picking the highest quality ingredients at the local market. (It is a good day for the vendors when Hermana Heyman shows up)






And, let's not forget that it is always a good day to buy stock in Mars Candy when Diane walks into a Walmart store!!!






PS: Diane says, "You are welcome, Warren!"

Hot Topics

46 degrees Celsius is 114 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot...especially with 80% humidity and...the car was parked in the shade at the time!


I did a whole blog post on these dishes once, but this deserved an encore for my buddy Doug!


If you do not respect traffic lights you are dangerous...but you also learn that if only one person respects traffic lights it can be dangerous, too!


The new tablero after transfers is always a hot topic. The biggest surprise here is renaming the Goya Zone, "Rio Parana 1" and renaming the Reconquista Zone, "Rio Parana 2" to coincide with the realignment of the two member districts to be the new Rio Parana District.



And while I am checking out what is happening down by Brazil (on the other side of the river).





Diane was beating the heat by trying on shoes with some Hermanas during Pday. For those wondering, no they did not buy the gold sparklers! Nor the wedge, nor the platform!