Argentina Day 17

Long day of travels—we got up super early to catch our early flight out. We had plenty of time to kill in the airport, so we burned our remaining pesos on alfajors and other yummy treats for the road. Lots of TV shows, movies, naps, and a stop in Peru later, we made it to LAX where Melanie was very relieved to pick us up and have us home safely. A perfect trip—we were able to see pretty much everyone that we wantd to and do pretty much everything we wanted to! I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go back and visit all of those incredible people who have made as big of a difference in my life as I have made in theirs.

 We had to get there SUPER early, and got through to our gate really fast, so we were ready for a nap!

 Goodbye, Beautiful Argentina!

Thanks, Barack.

Argentina Day 16

We woke up this morning and loved our room still! It was fantastic! We ate breakfast and went to the Recoleta Cemetery. That place is incredible--- there are so many graves and tombs there! Some are very ornate and well-preserved, while other are dumpy and falling apart. We toured around and saw presidents, military leaders, and even Eva Peron’s tomb. It was like its own little city in there. We were sure to stop by Evita's Grave!

Afterwards, we walked over to Florida street to shop and tour around. We went to the Galerias del Pacifico mall—a very nice mall with super nice stores. We ate lunch there, then went exploring for goodies. We got drink coasters and were exploring for jerseys but didn’t find anything we liked. We enjoyed walking around the little side markets and life there. We got some more ice cream and enjoyed our leisure day. We then took a taxi back to the hotel to get our bags and head to the Temple. We really didn’t want our taxi lady to come get us because it would be ridiculously expensive for her to take us to the Temple, so we had the hotel get a remis for us. I was nervouse they’d show up at the same time, but luckily the taxista didnt show. Phew! It turned out to be a very good thing we were in a remis and didn’t pay by the mile/time because traffic was HORRIBLE. It took us way longer to get down to the hotel/temple than we were planning on, but luckily we were able to check in and go to the temple on time.

We entered the temple and were greeted by plenty of English-speakers. There are 6 or 7 American Senior missionaries serving there, so that made things really easy for us. Our session had about 7 people in it, but it was great for me to do the session in Spanish for the first time. It was tough because it was in Vosotros. Hayley was listening in in English and accidentally said “YES” in English for all to hear. It was very neat to be there in the Argentine temple where my converts go and missionaries take out their endowments. That building is very special.

We ended our night eating crackers for dinner because there was nothing else close to the Holiday Inn we stayed at. Bummer.  Off to America tomorrow!

Argentina Day 15

Today we went shopping for alpergatas and dress shoes for Matias. I had given a pair to Cristian Etchegaray and wished I had held them for Matias because he didn’t have any dress shoes. We didn’t see any we liked, so that was a bummer. We got facturas and sat by the laguna to enjoy the morning. We also went to some book stores to see if they had anything good and to get our postcards. We went to visit Ulises, a fluent English speaker. It was good for Hayley to be able to talk in English to someone else! He is always depressed because he has health issues and is not married. It was a good visit—he talked about how he doesn’t remember many elders but he does remember me because of the impact I had on him and on that ward. That was very rewarding to hear.

We also went down to the new mall they were building while I was there. It was SO nice. Nice floors, it totally felt American. They had really nice stores and a food court! We ran into the missionaries there, and said hi. They were kinda lame and really didn’t respond at all. We had met the sisters at church and at Matias’s, and were not that impressed with them. Oh well. We had yummy lomo sandwhiches, and then went on up to the Azocar’s house. They decided that we should go visit Gaiman, so we drove on out there. It was fun—we went to the famous Casa de Te to visit, and then through an old scary train tunnel. They also gave us tons of alfajors for our trip—much appreciated! We had gone alfajor hunting earlier in the day and had already bought some, so we came home with extra alfajors. We ate some pizza with them and had a good little devotional where we all shared our favorite scriptures and I shared a handful to give them the peptalk they needed. They are doing very well, just needed a little pep talk. Afterwards, they drove us up to the airport. They were so nice in shuttling us around everywhere.

Turns out Beto's isn't just a Provo thing

 It was hot, so I sat in the window. Also, this is an obligatory fat picture we have to take every time when we see each other. 

Notice the name tag he has on?

When we got to the airport, it was a clash of cultures for them. They didn’t know how to get through the automatic gate (you have to pull the ticket). Then, they were in awe with how nice the airport was and the decorations and such it had. They ad no clue about security or checking bags or any of that, so we explained it all as we went. It was hard to say goodbye to them—they are such good friends and we really have a deep spiritual bond. They are great people who have also had the enormous blessing of being sealed in the temple. We boarded our flight and begun our trip back home.

The hotel we stayed at in Buenos Aires was awesome—it had a kitchen, a really nice bed and bathroom, and was right across the street from the Recoleta Cemetery. We had a taxi driver that ripped us off from the airport to the hotel though—we paid way more than we should have for that short drive. She was lost a bit. She offered to drive us to the airport the following day, and before I knew what I was doing I agreed and told her when to be there. Oops. Oh well. On to a good night’s sleep!

Argentina Day 14

This Sunday, we woke up and went to church. It was great seeing so many people—a lot of them recognized me and welcomed me and Hayley. There was a new young couple that got married when we did and they were an incredibly strong presence in the ward. It is amazing what one strong couple can do in those small wards there. Matias was confirmed to be a priest and blessed the sacrament for the first time. It was so great to be there for that and support him/be excited for him!

After church, we walked back to the hotel and changed. We snacked on some food and then headed out to find some members in the 274 barrio where hna. Blanco, the elisaincins, monica caro, and azocars live. We couldn’t find anyone at home, so we got hno. Azocar to help us make sure we were at the right place. Hna. Blanco was indeed out of town, but we did find and visit the Elisaincin family. They are awesome—He is so energetic and enthusiastic with the gospel. The man reads everything he can get his hands on, and takes copious notes on everything he reads. They are great. Their oldest son, Nico, wants to go to BYU, so we talked about that for a bit.

After that, Hno. Azocar drove us out to Matias’s house where we had a FHE and played the flour game. Matias was ordained to be a priest today in church and blessed the sacrament. It also turns out he was going to baptize his brother the following Saturday. He is doing well and is thinking of going on a mission. It was good to talk to them about being strengths for each other and helping each other get there. We ate little mini pizzas that Matias made, and enjoyed visiting with their family. Matias is doing well, and I will stay in contact with him to make sure he keeps doing well. We practiced baptisms and played the flour game-- a classic Elder Jensen game!