¿You want more pictures and less verbage? Ok, here you go.

Bricks


Reconquista waving to Goya


What Reconquista saw


Once upon a time


My Assistants on TV



Our tree


Diane's elves, Hermanas Baker and Washburn


Elves Hermanas Chumbes and Gonzalez


Elves Hermanas Berriman and Patterson


Saint Graciela



Members


Missionaries


M & Ms


Moto



Mama Mia


More for our T-shirt collection


Mail from my missionaries

Here Are A Few Things That I Have Learned Along The Way...

1. How to eat a sandwich with one hand while it is still in a "Baggie" while I am driving so that the crumbs do not get all over the place.

2. When a missionary says he has several questions he wants to ask you he really isn't interested in the answers to the first two, he is just warming you up for the third and fourth ones!

3. A mosquito bite itches the same in South America as it does anywhere else in the world.

4. The next "hot" ice cream flavor to take the world by storm is Maracuya, or passion fruit.

5. If you drink a glass of milk after you have eaten watermelon you will die. (Local wives' tale that a remarkable number of people believe).

6. Most people do not realize that Mexicans are North Americans, too!

7. Every photograph you are in is fair game for Instagram, Facebook, Blogs, etc.

8. The less legible your signature is on a document the more likely the government will accept it as being real....and if you can put an ink stamp somewhere near your signature, it is as good as gold.

9. A Kilometer is 6/10 or, in other words, 3/5 of a mile...but after 2 years you start thinking in terms of kilometers instead of miles anyway.

10. More often than not a car will cut in front of you at a toll station and then you will have to sit and watch while the driver undoes his seat belt, takes his wallet out of his back pocket, hands the person in the booth a large domination bill, drops the change and gets out of the car to pick it up and then gets back in and stalls the car! Why do I always seem to pick the slowest lane anyway?

Let's Start December Off Right

With some mission pictures...






I gave this cute little girl the copy of The Book of Mormon that I was using at the Roque Saenz Peña District Conference.











Our son Taylor with Hermana Skirvin of the Chile Concepción Mission in the first picture. Her Sister, "Hermana Skirvin" is serving in our Mission at the same time in the second picture! Small world.





Box of Birthday Cards from the missionaries.





Thank you, President and Sister Arrington of the Chile Concepcion Mission for making this happen.





Thanksgiving pumpkin pie and the office Elders. Elders Hernandez and Garcia are experiencing their first taste of pumpkin pie!






Posing on a moto parked on the porch of the Chapel in Reconquista. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening.





This is the rain in Reconquista the very next day. And this was taken INSIDE the hotel parking garage. It is that time of year!





We have been receiving a lot of missionaries lately with some pretty interesting hair styles...are they having Rod Stewart look alike contests in the MTC these days? Faux hawk and Spikey seem to be the most popular. In the last group that arrived we "gifted" 13 free haircuts before we let the missionaries head out to their areas. Can't wait for our first "Mullet"!





We received a new resource manual to help missionaries deal with stress. Stress? What stress? Actually, the manual is excellent.





Every P-day I receive between 40-60 calls from missionaries. I actually love the calls and talking with the missionaries. It is a simple way to keep in contact with them. This picture of me as a baby shows I was being trained on proper phone technique at an early age! Eyes wide open and mouth agape!!





Today all of our missionaries are receiving a personal invitation to the Mission Christmas activity....for 260 people. Diane has already started baking cookies, etc!

There Are Meetings...And Then There Are Meetings!

It is important that the local Church leaders and the Mission President meet often to coordinate their efforts. Monday, the Resistencia Stake Presidency and I had a day long meeting.

We met at the Stake Center at 4:00 am and drove to a secluded spot where we could get down to some serious business without being interrupted.



We had been given a tip from a "person who knows" that "This is the place"! So, we got settled in and then Alberto showed us his technique. The man has natural torque...



I, on the other hand, took a more casual approach...which explains in part why out of the 5 of us that "attended the meeting" I was the only one who did not catch a fish.



Did I mention casual?



Grass and shade...the perfect setting for our little meeting. Anyway, we (meaning they) caught and cleaned a few of these and some of their carp friends...



At first we were going to have a "choripan" (chorizo sandwhich) barbecue for lunch, but with so many fish...it was decided to just "feast" on them. Here is the lineup...



Yes, those are carp there with the other ones whose name I do not recall. Here is a little before and after picture...



Filet of carp...



From the frying pan and into the fire...




And, here is the final product, fresh, fried carp.



We returned home around 5:00 pm. I must admit it was one of the more enjoyable (and culinarily adventurous) meetings that I have had here during my mission. I hope that next time we meet like this again (it was our second meeting of this kind with a few more promised) I am a more productive and contributing participant!

A Mission First: We Took a P-Day!

We stayed in Roque Saenz Peña Friday, after Thursday's Zone Conference because Saturday and Sunday I preside over the District Conference there. So after taking care of some missionary issues in the morning we decided to get in our casual clothes and explore. First stop, the Sunflower fields...miles and miles of them!









Then we thought, "We have come this far, we might as well go all the way to Pampa del Infierno" or, the "Grasslands of Hell." It wasn't as hot as I thought it would be, but worth it to say we were there...






Finally, we went to the Zoo outside of Roque Saenz Peña. We really liked it. You drive and walk all over the place. It is a little rustic, so it has a nice feel and it has picnic areas. The occasional loose animal gave it a sense of adventure as well....


Walking down one of the paths lined with cages.


Our favorite...Toucans.


This lioness was feeding her newborn cubs, who were fighting over location and position. There were a lot of male lions, too, and for some reason there was a roaring fest going on while we were there.


The parrot was not in the mood to talk much.


There were black, brown and grizzly bears.



The hippo was pretty fun to see...it was hard to find, but fun to see!


This peacock was one of the few that stayed inside its designated pen.


The monkey is using a stick to try and steal food from his neighbor through the fence!


A free range peacock strutting around the zoo.



And my favorite was this camouflage-challenged alligator. You don't fool us, we don't think you are a plant!! There were llamas (I always think of Ron Davies when I see llamas), tigers, Cape buffalo, deer and many more animals there. It was a fun day...and then the phone started ringing again...!