Another Great Week!

School Report:
We were able to complete all of our responsibilities this week. We are truly happy when the weather cooperates. For us the term "cooperates" simply means "doesn't rain" because it was really cold. The temperatures hit 36 degrees which is record cold for our area--too cold to rain. One morning, when trying to get gas, everything was frozen up and we had to wait for it to thaw.

On Tuesday, we were asked to get the ranch kids to Feliciano by 6 AM for a field trip to Parana for a holiday called Technopoly--an exhibition of science, technology, industry, and art. It was founded in Buenos Aires by their President in 2011.

Anyway, we arose early and picked- up the kids in pitch dark. It was pitch dark except for the amazing display of stars and the sliver of moon that was so gorgeous. It reminded us that there is indeed a God in Heaven. With no city lights and no clouds, the sight was incredible. We got the kids to Feliciano right- on- time and returned home for the duration of the day.

We were suppose to pick up the kids again about 6 PM so we gathered up a couple of high school kids that needed a ride and arrived again in Feliciano at six just in time to get a call from the teachers reporting that they would not be back until about eight-thirty. With nothing more to do, we conversed with German, one of the high school-ers, and waited, and waited.


While waiting, we got to see the display of joy Argentine's have when their soccer team wins.

For hours they drive in circles around their little town honking, beating drums, or whatever they find and then complete their parade in front of the government building to announce their delight and apparently to show patriotism.

It kept us amused until we realized that it was preventing us from meeting the kids because of the traffic jam that had been created. So we left the town square to meet the kids at the bus stop On our way, we noticed a flat tire. Oh great! It was late. Gomeria's (tire repair shops) were all closed, the kids were tired and ready to go home, and it was "COLD". Fortunately, German knew where to go for a fix since there was still some air in the tire.

Amazingly, this man opened his shop even though he was closed for the night and spent almost an hour getting the tire off without many tools;--finding a broken nail, removing the nail, patching the hole and reassembling everything.

With an hours labor, after hours, how much do you think he charged? It was only about 6 American dollars. One of the gaucho's wives thought that was high -way robbery. Yuca thought it was the going rate. We thought it was a steal and a deal of a lifetime.

Below are more ranch shots:



Below is Enzo's house (one of our students) with all their horses.

The anthill below is one of the many huge hills of tough, truck jolting obstacles that we see all the time on the ranch. This particular one is not on the road so it has been left to "grace" the landscape. We call it DIA since the peaks are like the "roofscape" of DIA (Denver International Airport).



Los Perales:
Vanesa made some winter gear for her two boys. Her mother helped with the hat pattern, and she cut the scarves herself. She is amazing! Her boys are kind- of- cute too, don't you think?


Super News!
Yuca astounded us with the news that we have been approved to have a second home in Feliciano. We thought it would be a monumental project just to get approval, but just one word to Mauro, Yuca's boss, and we're past step number one. We have the full-time young missionaries in Feliciano checking out the possibilities for us. Now, actually pulling this off will be a feat, but maybe by the time the new missionaries come to take our place, we'll have found something.

Speaking of new missionaries, the Copes from Spanish Fork, Utah are working on their visas and hoping to be here the latter part of November before school closes for the summer. With Sister Cope being from Buenos Aires, and both of the Copes having served a mission in our area as young adults, we think they will be a perfect fit.

We have the house in good shape and hope to keep it that way. We utilized more tape and paint this week keeping up on the mold crystals and cracks. Mauro told us that though the house has been condemned for major renovating, it still has another ten years of use before it could be a dangerous situation. That message was our clue that the next missionaries will probably be living here and thus the continued upkeep.

Feliz Dia Del Padre!

A direct translation of "Feliz Dia Del Padre" is Happy Day of Fathers. Gregg was greeted with this salutation many times at church today. The men (and maybe a few women) received chocolates.

For Father's Day, Gregg gave a talk in sacrament meeting, taught the gospel doctrine class, and of course played the piano for sacrament meeting. He was almost a one- man -show. After days like today, Amy is glad to still be a bit deaf and dumb when it comes to Spanish.

When we got home from church, Gregg asked for another Lemon Meringue pie to celebrate Father's Day. It was delicious and we have enough corn starch to make one more pie before we get back to the states. It might have to be on Gregg's Birthday in September.



School update:
We had a full week of school this week. Hallelujah!

While picking up kids, we had to take a few pictures of the ranch life. We will certainly miss certain aspects of our mission here at El Quebracho.






Los Peralos:
We missed a full month at Los Peralos Ranch due to bad roads, so the "chicas" (a term the ladies use at the ranch when referencing each other) made up for it by having me help them make patterns for winter wear for their children.


They now have enough patterns and fabric to choke a horse in case we don't get back for awhile.


Carina spends most of her time corralling her boys, but has made tremendous progress the past year in her sewing skills despite her two darling distractions.


Vanesa, true to herself, is making three warm vests all different sizes. She doesn't do anything small-scale.


The chicas needed the table for cutting out patterns, so the kids used the floor this week for their English class.




Travel:
The short route to Feliciano finally opened this week. Twice we started down the road last week, and twice were inspired to turn around. (One of those times, it took a miracle to get us out of the thick mud we were in.) Anyway, we heard that the road had been cleaned- up enough to pass.

You might think that we get excited about rather strange things around here, but check out the height of the mud pushed to the side of the road. It was in reality 5-5 1/2 feet high in a dozen or so places. Think how deep those ruts were before the excess was pushed to the side of the road.







One of our grand kids asked why we can't drive when it rains. Most likely, you get it now.

Electricity:
The new generator is now officially connected and functioning. Fortunately, we have not had much need for the generator since the old one was disconnected months ago. Now, that the power is stronger and more reliable, we only missed power a few hours here and there. Thursday, however, when the generator was connected, our old house blew wires all over the place so we didn't have power for about 24 hours. The electricians worked on our lines for about 5 hours on Friday and we are finally back to normal.

Trip to Libertador San Martin

This contraption was sitting on the piano at church today. Have you seen anything like this before in your life?

See if you can guess what it is by the end of the blog.



We had two days of school this week. The kids are quite enthused with Tom Sawyer as you see.

Well, maybe Gregg is a little bored.


We were asked to take the Espinosa's to a clinic in Libertador San Martin for testing so that Omar, a gaucho, can get needed surgery at a later date. Libertador is about 3 hours from here not far from Parana. However, the appointment was on Thursday and rain was predicted Thursday morning. So, we left Wednesday afternoon and took Omar and his wife Maria to Feliciano.

In Feliciano, we stayed in a five star hotel, okay, maybe a one star, while the Espinosa's stayed in their second home. Leaving at six in the morning, we arrived in Libertador without incidence. About half way, we even figured out the defrost system on the truck so that we could have heat instead of air conditioning. (Apparently, one of the kids had changed one of the gadgets so that the defrost only worked when cold.) It was rather unbearable until we figured out that problem.

Libertador is primarily inhabited by Seventh Day Adventists who own a private hospital in their town. People who have insurance often find private hospitals for better care. We understood completely when comparing the clinic in Parana with the one in Libertador. There was a huge difference in the condition of the building and service provided.

However, the wait was just as bad. Omar's appointment was at 10 AM. We arrived at 9 AM remembering our experience in Parana. Omar was seen at 10:30 and the test was completed. Not too bad...right? Except, it wasn't until 3 PM that Omar could talk to the doctor about the results of the test and it wasn't until after 5 that we were ready to leave.

When calling the ranch in El Quebracho, we learned that the roads were "terrible" so we spent the night in Libertador. (Compared to Hotel Lopez in Feliciano, this would be rated three star.)


We loved Libertador. They have "real" houses and sidewalks! Check out the photos below.




The hospital was big, clean, and modern. However, the medical system here is quite different than we are accustomed to. Apparently, radiation exposure is not considered a problem unless one is pregnant. The sign below is a reminder for expectant mothers to notify the radiation technicians of their condition in order to take precautions.


Many pictures of Christ were throughout the building. It was a VERY nice touch.



Friday morning we left for home and arrived soon enough to pick up the teachers on the Calandria road about nine miles from home. The roads were impassible for vehicles without 4-wheel drive which made it impossible for the maestras.



Humor: Some of you may know that Gregg likes to joke around. Well, when we picked up the school teachers, he told them that we really liked Libertador and that we wanted to move there. The joke soon went far and wide, and Yuca brought it up the next day suggesting that we would not be happy there since there was not an LDS church in Libertador. (It is almost exclusively Seventh Day Adventists.) Gregg's reply was, "Well, we'll just have to convert." Yuca delighted at the thought. He replied that he could just see the reaction in Salt Lake when he told them that he'd lost his missionaries to another church. Yuca is not a member of our church remember, but is well acquainted with Salt Lake and missionary service.

We traveled to Feliciano on Saturday for Ixie's piano lesson. She is progressing wonderfully. On the way out, we ran into the sister missionaries who caught a ride with us to their teaching appointment.


Amy added a row to our throw rug in the bathroom. It wasn't quite big enough. Crazy, that in the last few months, prices of some goods have sky rocketed. A few months ago, we paid $5 a metro for the terry cloth. This time is was $10 a metro for the same bolt of fabric.



We added a loop in which to hang the rug to dry between uses.


We also made it to church today. Several of the missionaries are being transferred thus you see picture taking.

We also took two young women home who are investigating the church. All five fit nicely in the back of the truck.


Okay, did you guess what contraption was shown at the beginning of today's post?
Well, it's a bonafide head-scratcher. Did we get you on that one?

Up to our neck in mud...

The power washer at the ranch car wash has stopped working, and we're not sure how long until Yuca can get if fixed. We are swimming in mud without it. The mud gets everywhere when we drive including all over the windows as well as the edge we use to step in and out of the truck and thus the mud also gets all over the mats inside.

We needed to go the long hour (instead of the one half hour) route to church today. As we drove, this beautiful scene softened our inconvenience. If we had been able to stop and get out of the truck, it would have been a better picture, but as you see, the roads are still treacherous.

Check out the awe inspiring sky and tranquil fields. A little fog added mystic.


We tried to get a picture of the 3 1/2-4 foot cliff of mud, but without a point of reference, it's hard to tell how deep these trenches are. Sorry, neither of us were game to stand in the mud in our church clothes.

We felt blessed to make it to church without incidence because there were dozens of areas like you see here. The last rain was Wednesday. With 3 1/2 days of drying, can you image how bad the roads would have been earlier in the week?


While sitting in Sacrament Meeting today, Amy noticed mud on her leggings, and on the floor around her feet.


Feeling the need to take stewardship for her mess, Gregg went to the kitchen and found a broom and dustpan. It was cleaned up in no time.

However, when we went to the Relief Society room after another class had used the room for the Gospel Essentials class, we noticed big chunks of mud under almost every chair.


So, muddy shoes are the norm and no one is offended. That was good news.

Church was really cold today. The temperatures now are generally in the 40-60 degree F range which shouldn't be bad, but with high humidity and no central heat, it feels COLD!

Amy wore two shirts, a wool jacket and skirt, and leggings on top of thick tights. Gregg wore his wool suit. Even then, we were cold. As you see below, people( the district and mission presidency members) just layer up and don't complain.



When we went to the kitchen to find a broom, we saw someone had tried to warm themselves with a hot drink of mate. Drinking mate is a cultural thing here similar to American's drinking coffee. Members of the church in Argentina are not discouraged from drinking mate, (It does not contain caffeine like coffee) unless you are a missionary and then we're asked not to drink it. The biggest issue is probably that one cup is passed around for everyone to share. We don't need more bugs of any kind.



What to do with high humidity:
We thought Nauvoo was humid. It is nothing compared to climates with 100% humidity. The windows constantly drip water, paint all around the house is swelling with moisture and is growing "mold crystals" as we call them.


Tape didn't work that well!




(We tried to go to our favorite hardware store yesterday to get a solution for the paint problem, but they are closed on Saturdays in the winter. Who would have thought?) Once we get to the Ferretería (hardware store), we're confident that they will have a solution for us. They have every other time despite the problem.

The worst part about high humidity is, you feel the cold to the bones even though it's not that cold. Our jackets are hung and dry, but when we put them on, it feels like we've just pulled them out of a cold, wet, washer. At night, the sheets feel cold and wet, even though we're wearing long underwear, socks, and have multiple blankets, two of which are wool. So, our advice--keep layering up and be happy.

Towels take more than 24 hours to dry. Each day, we wash the bath towels or at least put them in the drier. If we don't, they feel like we just used them rather than a day after use.

One tip:
We told you about the salt shaker needing to be cleaned and dried every couple of days due to high humidity. Well, we got tired of the tedious process (slow drying the salt in the oven) and instead placed a paper towel over the shakers. The towel soaks up some of the moisture that collects every few hours, so with a quick wipe of the inside of the lid each time before using the salt, we can keep the shaker dry enough to let the salt through.  Hallelujah!

Here is a trick I bet you never thought of. 

The electronic piano keyboard was acting really weird. We'd be playing along when all of a sudden a note would sound so loud, we almost lost our seating. We looked and looked both in the owners manual and on line to decipher the problem, but it was all in vain.

Finally, we just turned down the volume and braced ourselves for the blast every 10-15 notes. Yesterday, in desperation, the thought came, "Maybe, there's moisture under the keys causing the jump in electricity." So we took a hair drier and while pushing one key down and pulling the two side notes up as far as they'd go, we attempted to dry underneath the keys. About ten minutes later, we had a functioning piano again without giving us the jitters.

Lastly, remember our broken cellular phone? Well, it started working again and we suspect the problem was humidity. We would turn the phone on and it would start inputting numbers without touching the keypad. Sounds a bit like the crazy electronic keyboard don't you think? Anyway, it stayed at Yuca's house for the last two weeks and he brought it over on Friday claiming that it worked again. (Yuca's place is a little warmer and thus drier.)

School Update:
As you probably guessed, we had no school last week. The teachers got in on Friday to teach, but we couldn't get out to get the kids so only two Carraya Ranch kids made it. The worst roads are right around our home this time.

We miss school greatly, but are now ready with some new tricks to try that we learned at Zone Conference in Buenos Aires a few weeks ago. We expect to have school at least part of this week.
If we're lucky, maybe more school days, but rain is predicted on Wednesday.

We are recommending that the missionaries who replace us work to get a second home in town. We could double or triple the service and provide assistance to the members if we could spend every weekend around people.

Good books:
Amy read The Undaunted by Gerald Lund this week. Wow! Check out this historical novel about the pioneers in the 1870's-80's settling parts of the wild and ferocious west. Have you heard of Hole in the Rock in Lake Powell?

We're also finding more time to practice Spanish. "Little by little, precept upon precept...never give up!" That is our motto.

Life is good in Argentina. Though we can't do all we'd like, we are not stagnating by any stretch of the imagination.