Palaces and Farewells

So, the time between posts seems to be getting longer. We’re sorry about that. However, we really have not been idle. In fact, we’ve been pretty busy. First, we need to catch up on some things that we’ve been putting off since March.

On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, it happened to be another Argentina national holiday, so the Smiths, Nortons and Loves were once again off visiting some of the wonderful sites here. We rode the bus to the Retiro neighborhood and made our way across Plaza San Martin to the Palacio Paz (Paz Palace). The palace was built between 1902 and 1914 by Jose Paz, a wealthy newspaper owner. It was built entirely of material from France, as the aristocracy in Argentina viewed the French as highly cultured and frequently sought to emulate their culture. In fact, Jose Paz traveled to France in 1900 and engaged French architect, Louis-Marie Henri Sortais, to design it. At 12,000 square meters (nearly 110,000 square feet), with 140 rooms, it was the biggest residence in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, Paz died in France in 1912 and never got to live in the residence he had built. His wife and 2 daughters and their families lived there for many years until the family ultimately turned it over to the Military Officers Association on condition that it also be kept as a museum. It is truly beautiful. As we toured, we often felt like we were visiting the palace in Beauty and the Beast.

Near the main entrance to Palacio Paz

Grand hall entrance to Palacio Paz

Ceiling of the grand hall of Palacio Paz

Secondary entrance to Palacio Paz

Main dining hall Palacio Paz

In the main dining hall, Palacio Paz

Also in the main dining hall, Palacio Paz

Hall of honor, Palacio Paz

Buenos Aires has a rather large population of people with Irish roots and there was an Irish celebration going on in Plaza San Martin, with food, Irish souvenirs, and music, so after our tour of Palacio Paz, we crossed the street to have some lunch and listen to some fun Irish music. Fish and chips, Irish stew, and other Irish fair was on the menu and we enjoyed our meal. Then, we made our way down Avenida Florida, probably the most famous tourist area in Buenos Aires, to Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (Pink House, the Argentine counterpart of the U.S. Whitehouse), where we had reservations for an English language tour. At one time, the Casa Rosada was the official residence of the president of Argentina. Now, however, since 1955, most Argentine presidents have resided at the Quinta de Olivos, in North Buenos Aires, and used the Casa Rosada only as an executive office. The vice president also has offices there. It sits on a site that was originally a fort on the shore of the Rio de la Plata in 1594. It was later replaced by a masonry building in 1713 and has been modified and added onto multiple times since. Now, it is a living museum, part of which is intended to be historic and part of which is actually used by the president and vice president. As we toured, we passed through the equivalent of a cabinet room, executive office suite and press room and our group was under the watchful eye of the president’s police, the counterpart to our secret service. There lots of theories why it is pink but no one really knows for sure.

Casa Rosada

Atrium inside the Casa Rosada

Painted ceiling in the Casa Rosada

Cabinet room in the Casa Rosada

Juan and Eva Peron

View of Plaza de Mayo from the portico in the Casa Rosada

Press room, Casa Rosada

After we finished at the Casa Rosada, we passed by the Metropolitan Cathedral, which has existed in one form or another since the 1500s.  It was rebuilt in the late 1700s and remodeled several times since then. The remains of General Jose San Martin, the liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru, and two other famous generals, as well as the unknown soldier of the independence. It is a beautiful church and it is inspiring to see the faith of the Catholics who visit and worship there.

Metropolitan Cathedral

Mausoleum for General San Martin and the Unknown Soldier of the Independence

Since we last wrote, we have been teaching our institute class each week. The young people who attend are also Pathway students, which is intended to prepare them for on-line classes at BYU-Idaho, so their Pathway and institute classes are conducted in English. We each teach one or two lessons every week so we can complete all 28 lessons in the 14 weeks of the semester. The students are very dedicated and are working so hard. Some of them travel more than an hour each week to be there, and some are also studying at the university. Since our class starts at 8:30 pm and ends at 10 pm, it is often quite a sacrifice for them to be there. We admire them a lot.

One of the rooms in the Buenos Aires Institute Building

Another view of a room in the Buenos Aires Institute building

Stairs in the Buenos Aires Institute Building

Carvings in the Buenos Aires Institute Building

Another carving in the Buenos Aires Institute Building

Our institute class

Also since our last post, the Nielsens (Doctor Nielsen), Licursis (records preservation), and the Williams (Area Auditor) have left. We have become good friends with each of them and have really enjoyed our association. The Nielsens are from the Salt Lake area. We replaced them as institute teachers. We were always amazed by the beautiful meals Sister Nielsen prepared, even just for our daily lunch. She is so creative, it was like seeing something out of a magazine. We know they are enjoying being back with their 10 children. The Licursis returned to Mendoza, Argentina, so they are not too far away. They sacrificed so much to be here, including selling their car to help finance their mission. Elder Licursi is a stake patriarch. We came to love them very much. The Williams are from the Seattle area. They had sold their home and were in the process of preparing to close on it when a fire completely destroyed it just a few weeks before they were to leave for Argentina on their third mission. They came anyway. We became quite close to them and admired their faith and their spirit of consecration. They arranged for construction to get underway to replace their burned home and we just heard that they are just a few weeks from being able to move in.

It was intended that the Walkers would be transferred to Buenos Aires from Santiago to replace Dr. Nielsen, but there has been a delay due to visa documentation. Hopefully, that can be resolved soon.  There are no replacements identified for the Licursis, but we expect that the Prestgards will be transferred here soon from Asencion, Paraguay, to replace the Williams. Elder Prestgard has been serving as an Assistant Area Auditor. In addition, Tom and Tina Cheney arrived about a month ago from North Carolina to serve as Assistant Executive Secretary to the Area Presidency. They were originally assigned to serve in the Buenos Aires North mission as Member and Leadership Services missionaries but were reassigned almost literally at the last minute. We realized when we met them that we knew each other as we were going to school in Moscow, Idaho, while Elder Love was in law school. In fact, we were in the same ward together and Tina and Robyn were quite good friends there. It has been fun renewing our old acquaintances and catching up on mutual friends.

Lunch at the Bonpland building - Switzers (front), Hulings (right side of first table), Elder Williams (between Elder Huling and Elder Love, Sister Ashton (to Elder Love's right), the Nielsens (to Sister Ashton's right), the Nortons (across from Elder Love), Sister Williams (left side first table)

Loves and Williams at Pascana Restaurant a few days before the Williams finished their mission

Elder and Sister Licursi

Before these couples left the senior missionaries were asked by President Wu, of the Congreso Stake, where most of the senior missionaries are assigned, to sing a special musical number in the Saturday session of stake conference. We practiced each family home evening for a couple of months before the meeting and then went to the stake center in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires to sing. President Wu was so appreciative and called us singing angels. We all felt it had gone quite well.

Sister Love has been faithfully doing Skype study sessions with her tutor from the Provo MTC for several months. Because of the time difference between here and there, she leaves work early on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to keep the appointment, while Elder Love remains at the office until later. On May 30, she was walking home when she tripped on a piece of rebar that was sticking up out of the sidewalk and fell, cutting her lip and chipping off a piece of her bridge. She was bleeding and shaken and a nice woman, who happened to speak English, stopped to help her. Unfortunately, Robyn did not have a phone but the good Samaritan did, so Robyn gave her Elder Love’s number. The woman tried to call but, because Elder Love was not in his office at the time, she did not reach him. She was successful in reaching the Nortons, who immediately left to go help. Elder Nielsen called Elder Love, who also left immediately to help. Based on advice from Elder Nielsen, Sister Love was taken to Los Arcos hospital, where she received stitches from a plastic surgeon. Two days later, she was seen by Dr. Darling, an Irish-born dentist who was trained at the Loma Linda Dental School, has lived his whole life in Buenos Aires, speaks great English, and has treated most of the general authorities, mission presidents, etc., over the years. After also consulting by phone with Dr. Staley, in Idaho Falls, Sister Love allowed Dr. Darling to do the repair and it turned out nearly as good as new. We have been so grateful she was not injured any worse, as her injuries could have been so much more serious. We have also gotten her a SIMM card for her old iPhone so she can use it here without all of the international charges. We both feel much more secure knowing we have a way to communicate if need be.

Not long ago, Sisters Algote and Nebeker, the sisters assigned to our ward, called on a Friday evening to let us know that one of their investigators, Jessica, would be baptized the next day and that she had requested that Elder Love baptize her. As a result, we again had the opportunity to participate in a convert baptism. It was a very sweet experience. We had come to know Jessica as we have attended the Gospel Principles class each week and she has been attending for a couple of months. She has an 11-year-old daughter that we expect will be baptized soon, as well.

Sisters Nebeker and Argote with Elder Love and Jessica on the day of Jessica's baptism

Our wonderful sister missionaries, Sisters Argote and Nebeker

Work has been going well. We have had some successes and some disappointments but, in general, things are moving in the right direction. Marcos Cardoso, our senior legal coordinator, left in late April to study for his LLM (master of laws) at Northwestern University, in Chicago, for 2 months. It is a special program they run that involves 2 intensive semesters on campus. Marcos has also planned to return to Northwestern University next spring to complete his studies. While he has been gone, Elder Love has been working on the litigation cases that were assigned to Marcos, and the other legal coordinator, David Frol, has been working on the transactional matters, most of which involve taxes in some manner. In addition, Brent Gardner, our ALC, had a one-week conference in Peru and then, a week later, left for nearly 3 weeks for Arizona for his daughter’s wedding and the return of his son from his mission to Denmark. As a result, David and Elder Love have been extremely busy trying to keep everything current. It has been a good experience for them and it has caused Elder Love to become more familiar with the litigation cases in Argentina so that when Marcos returns, he will be able to concentrate on the more strategic transactional matters and not have to worry about managing litigation, which will be a real plus for our office because of his experience. It has also resulted in Elder Love being pulled more into the strategic matters for counsel. We truly see the Lord’s hand in the details of his work every day and we pray the He will continue to help us. We ask for an interest in your faith and prayers, as well.

Elder and Sister Love with David Frol on Elder Love's birthday

Well, this is much longer than we intended but we think we are pretty well caught up. We love you all and we feel your prayers each day. Until next time,