Making progress

Gregg practicing the piano for church.

We made it to church finally this week by going the "long" way which takes about an hour instead of 1/2 hour. We were a little late but the branch waits for us so that Gregg can play piano for their sacrament meeting.

We are also getting better and better with our teaching skills. We've received some PowerPoint documents to use with our lessons and are customizing them for our younger group. Some of them don't read or write yet. Anyway, Amy learned some PowerPoint skills while getting her master's degree and later in Nauvoo. We're glad for the ability to make school fun for these kids. Lots of variety seems to help keep their attention.

Since we're stuck home for days on end, Amy is making bread the Nauvoo way--by hand.
She prefers her bread mixer.

When the yeast doesn't work--make flat bread and empanadas with the dough.




Empanadas were yummy!


We've also learned how to make our own almond milk after finding a tienda (store) that sells nuts in bulk--well, at least almonds. Thanks google for the recipe!


We are real people now since we got our first mail delivery from our bank. We are so relieved to have our debit cards. Actually, remember all of our mail goes to the ranch manager's mothers home in Feliciano. Well it worked, and the ranch manager delivered the package to our door--literally.


Our students are so perceptive. This 6 year old spotted these eggs from 50 feet or so away as we traveled the ranch roads to his house.

Una Adventura:

Part of the process in acquiring a visa is to go to an immigration office once you arrive in Argentina and apply for an identification card which is what you carry around with you ALWAYS. We have three months to accomplish this task but with unpredictable rain which would isolate us from the rest of the world, we decided to take the 3 ½ hour drive to Concepcion Del Uruguay Friday of this week. The roads were dry in the direction we needed to go and rain was predicted again on Monday.

Everything started out as planned. We left the house before 4:30 AM and made all the right turns, avoided major dips in the road, and even avoided death by head on collision. (Roads here have dividing lines painted everywhere except when you are on a dangerous turn, cross road, or hill where you can’t see. We never noticed in the daylight, but at night when all lines disappeared is the time you avoid passing a vehicle. Yikes! When we drove through stretches of fog, it was a bit frightening even with very few vehicles on the road.)

We finally made it to our destination before the 8 AM opening time. A little trouble started when the attendant needed her morning coffee and decided to make us wait 20 minutes or so. She was the only one who apparently could help us with our particular situation while the other 3-4 attendants helped people who had been behind us in line. When she finally began to help us, she didn’t like that we were on a “retirement” visa that needed to be renewed after only one year. Who retires some place for just one year? Then she noticed a discrepancy in Gregg’s kid mission to Argentina and what was on his application. We only did what we were told to do, but she didn’t like it. However, she realized that we were probably missionaries and she had liked all the missionaries that she had met in her lifetime. 

So in the end, all was well and we ended up “friends” talking about families and hobbies.

Our last task was supposed to be a simple one—go to a bank and pay our $7 fee. “It’s just a few blocks away” was our counsel. Well, after walking for half an hour and ending up where we started, we decided to take the truck. (We’re pretty smart you know!) The bank was marked in our GPS so we were confident that it was the correct bank. However, there was no place to park close to the bank and when we walked in from our distant parking spot, it was then 10 AM and the bank was packed. We took the opportunity to relax, watch people, and eat the snacks we had brought with us.

We waited, and waited, noticing the patience that people wore on their faces. Everyone was fine whether they were attended to that day or not. The banks close at noon every day and don’t open until the next day. Well, when we only had 30 minutes before closing time and still had many people ahead of us, we began to feel troubled. It didn’t look good and we really didn’t want to take our life in our hands again very soon by making this trip.

So, we said a prayer to ourselves and Gregg felt inspired to talk to a clerk. After hearing our situation, he suggested that we just butt in line before your number was called. Go to box #7 he said. So we nonchalantly went to the window out of turn and explained our situation. “Oh, you are at the wrong bank.”, she said. Great, only 25 minutes before banks close. So we took off again running this time. We got to our destination and didn’t wait before verifying that we were at the right spot. “We’re sorry! We used to perform this service but not anymore” was the response, and we were sent off around the corner. Well, by then it was approaching noon and everything everywhere was shutting down for siesta. The attendee was closing her door as we approached our destination, but she ignored our pleas for help as we carried our papers and cash to show it would be quick and easy. “Come back at 4:30 or on Monday”, was the response.

We decided to drive back to the immigration office which didn’t close until one and see if we could send them proof of payment rather than drive back. It was an absolute miracle that we found our parking spot after running around all over town. We got back to the office at 12:30 and the attendees were sitting out in the sun as their work was apparently finished.

They could hardly believe our situation. “That is not right”, they claimed. The banks should take your money! They sent us to another bank that was supposed to be open until one. It was only one block over and five blocks down. We found it in record time, but there was a line. We needed to pay and get back to immigration office in half an hour. Well, it was ten minutes too late, but the attendees at immigration said it would be processed just fine and our cards would be sent to us here at the ranch.

We did it! We have to do this again in about 9 months. But hopefully, the smaller bank will still be taking money from foreigners.