Estancia Santa Susana

Temple Trips 

February 28 was a holiday (Carnival, the Tuesday before Lent or, in Brazil, Marti Gras) and our ward hired a bus to go to the temple. It was a wonderful, bright day and 65 members of the ward showed up. It is wonderful here when wards go to the temple here. We leave at about 9 am for a 10:30 session and the bus gets back about 3 pm. It is a pretty full day. There aren’t many baby-sitters so they take the little ones with them and let them play outside on the temple grounds and the adults take turns going into the temple to do ordinances. About mid-way, everyone pulls out their picnics to have lunch. About half of the group were youth, so we helped at the baptistry. We had a great time.

 

Villa Crespo Ward at the Buenos Aires Temple, February 28, 2017

Juan Jose Borjes, who Elder Love had the privilege of baptizing in January, has been working hard on family history and a few days before our temple trip, he had gone to the temple to do baptisms. He baptized, or witnessed proxy baptisms for, 7 of his ancestors for whom he did the work. We are really proud of him and he is just blossoming. He is working hard in his calling as a facilitator for Self-Reliance classes. Here is a picture he sent us of him at the temple for the first time. We’re sure there will be many more.

Juan Jose Borjes at the Buenos Aires Temple, February 24. 2017

This past Friday, March 24, was another holiday (Memorial Day) so the ward scheduled another bus to go to the temple. This time, there were about 70. We didn’t go on the bus this time but rode with the Nortons. We had tickets to see Beauty and the Beast with the Nortons, the Smiths and the Switzers, who came to replace the Wieses, and we were afraid we wouldn’t be back in time if we took the bus. Anyway, it was a very full session. Sister Love felt comfortable not wearing headphones to do the session in English this time!

Dinner With the Missionaries

February 27 was also a holiday, so we decided to go to the Recoleta Artisan Fair with the Nortons and the Smiths, where we ran into several pairs of sister missionaries enjoying their preparation day. We recognized one of them, Sister Allison, from Iowa, whom we met at the Ilumina el Mundo event in the park at Palermo on December 3 and we invited her and her companion, Sister Warnock, from Salt Lake City, to call us if they are ever free for Sunday dinner. They were assigned to the Belgrano Ward, which is not our ward, but they live just a few blocks from us. A couple of weeks later they called, and that Sunday, we had a great time hosting these 2 sweet sisters for Sunday dinner and getting to know them better. They loved Sister Love’s roast beef and mashed potatoes. Then last week, we showed up for church in our ward, the Villa Crespo Ward, and Sister Collado had been transferred and replaced by none other than Sister Allison. It was good to see her again. We have made arrangements for them to come to our apartment for dinner twice in April and on Mother’s Day in May, so they can skype home.

Sister Love Gets Her Hard Rock Cafe Buenos Aires T-shirt

Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy had a special night at the Hard Rock Café, here in Buenos Aires. The purpose of the evening was for U.S. citizens living in Buenos Aires to learn more about the services the embassy offers. We went with the Smiths and the Nortons but it just looked like a big cocktail party so we went to the restaurant part and ate dinner. Sister Love was anxious to get her Hard Rock Café – Buenos Aires t-shirt. Dinner was good and we enjoyed the company.

 Estacia Santa Susana

On March 12, all of the Senior couples except the Williams rented a micro-bus and went to the Estancia Santa Susana. A young couple named Josh and Kelsie Sorensen also went. Josh is a graduate of BYU Law School, and Kelsie is a BYU grad in accounting. They work in New York but accepted a one year assignment in Buenos Aires. They attend the same ward one of the senior couples attend.

An estancia is like a ranch, or a gaucho station. Santa Susana is a picturesque one near Los Cardales, on the Pampa, about 50 miles north-west of Buenos Aires. It has been turned into a bit of a dude ranch that caters to tourists, but in an authentic environment. We ultimately found out there were people there from the United States, Russia, England, France, Switzerland, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina. We were all met by men dressed as gauchos and women with baskets of freshly made empanadas. They were delicious!

 

Estancia Santa Susana museum

Gaucho serving empanadas at Estancia Santa Susana

We wandered around the well-manicured grounds,

and enjoyed the old house that has been turned into a museum.

We also enjoyed the lovely flowers.

Those who wanted, went for a short horseback ride around the place.

Then we were treated to a wonderful Asado, which means cook-out. There was Argentine sausage, sirloin, chicken and loin (lomo), as well as fresh salad. It was really good.

After dinner, there was wonderful entertainment, including singing and dancing. One of the dancers did a wild gaucho dance that included swinging the boleadoras. If you watch the Argentine dancers on America’s Got Talent, it was the same style of dancing.

After the entertainment, we were treated to an exhibition of gaucho riding ability. The gauchos ride a full gallop toward small rings suspended from a high bar. The gauchos are holding small, pencil-like metal rods and they try to catch the rings on them. When they do, they give a ring to a pretty young lady and expect a reward. It was all very impressive.

After the demonstration, one of the gauchos gave horseback rides to some of the women there. Sisters Norton and Hancock were adventurous enough to go.

After a quick stop at the gift shop, we were on our way. It was a wonderful, very enjoyable day.

A Little Success in our Church Assignment

We have been working with a sister in the ward who is going through some very difficult times. The bishop asked us to do whatever we can to help her. She has fainting spells, like seizures, and doesn’t dare go out, as she has ended up in the emergency room several times after passing out in the street. She has no family close and has kind of turned away many of the ward members that have tried to help her. We have been able to visit her a number of times to encourage her, just listen to her, teach and counsel her, and invite her to go to church. She has generally not felt like going to church but a couple of weeks ago, she surprised us. It was wonderful to enjoy the meetings with her and watch her enjoy feeling the love of the members who came up to greet her and feel the spirit that was there. She was quite emotional during the sacrament and some of the hymns that were sung. She took a bad turn this last week and ended up back in the hospital. The doctors are not sure what is causing these spells, though she has some significant stress in her life at the moment and no one but the members of the church to rely on. We ask for your prayers and faith in her behalf. Her name is Daniele.

Well, there is much more but this is long enough. We will tell about visiting 2 palaces and a beautiful cathedral on St. Patrick’s Day in our next post.

We are truly enjoying our time here. From our posts, it might seem like we are just having fun times. We assure you, we are working hard, but just can’t say much about what we do. We also get to play hard and we also get to sneak in some “real” missionary work. Almost every time we go on one of these activities we carry pass-along cards and we engage with people, on the subway, the bus, in the restaurant or even just on the street, and invite them to learn more about the Savior and his church. Sister Love was practicing her Spanish with a young man on the subway on the way home from one of our activities not long ago. She learned he is a psychology student here in Buenos Aires and she was telling him about what we do here. She gave him a pass-along card and she was so engrossed in the conversation she just barely made it off the train as the doors were closing at her stop. We so love the great people here and getting to know them and looking for those who are prepared to hear the gospel message.  We know it is true, that God lives and Jesus is the Christ. Until next time…..