Back home in Rexburg, last look at Argentina and Paraguay

Making guitars by hand. No power tools anywhere. It was a fun find on one of our walks. I think they are well known and make custom guitars.
These pictures are for Berta.










This cute lady is 89 years old and we found her in a corner of a little shop selling pictures that she drew with ink. She also made the paper by hand that they are done on. She was so sweet and loved to try to use her English with us. She even grows the flowers that she uses to make the paper with. I bought this picture from her for 25 pesos ($7.50).












Children begging on street in Paraguay.

Jeff in NICU two days after it was destroyed by improper wiring vs oxygen.
Paraguay 2005

Jeff in NICU of the same nursery that has been rebuilt after fire.
Asuncion, Paraguay 2007

Chapel as seen from taxi in Asuncion.

Rexburg is really beautiful in the fall. Today is no exception. It was great to arrive early enough today to do a little yard work. We did make a dash up to Chiz's first for dinner. The trip home was pretty uneventful.
I talked to my brother Pat when we were driving home from the airport. His story about an airplane horror story in Hawaii this week has me thankful for all of our safe trips. His involves dumping fuel over the ocean to prepare for a crash landing (taught on the plane by the stewardess in preparation for a possible water or land crash landing because the landing gear got stuck). Shiver, shiver!!! Glad that all ended well Pat & Jen.
Here are a few more pictures from Argentina. The trip went beautifully thanks to people we have worked with before and the Ruckers who will be our right hand through all of this. We are thankful for everyone's support as we venture south routinely to help the newborns.

Wrapping up the trip

We had our final meeting today. It was very easy and quick as we know the people we met with and they understand the process very well. For dinner we went with the Ruckers to another couples apartment. There were 12 of us. There are two new couples who just arrived yesterday and this morning. They had a welcome dinner for them. It was very fun. They are all having a blast down here. It was like sitting in a University apartment with young marrieds. They are all sharing where to buy new dishes, towels etc to furnish their modest little apartments. We found a connection with each of them of someone they know or are related to.
We decided that since we are finished we would try to change our tickets and come home tomorrow. It was an easy change with no charges. So we leave tomorrow night and arrive in IF Saturday before noon. Nice. It would be fun to stay and play but obligations call us back. Enjoy these pictures of Argentina and Paraguay.

Asuncion, Paraguay

We are tired tonight so here is a short report on today. We had our meeting with Dr. Armoa who we know from other trips. We worked out the details for a course to be taught here in Paraguay in April 2008. Jeff and I looked around the temple grounds while the Ruckers did some welfare training. Pretty hot and very smoky still. One of the ladies in the Church Office took us to buy some Paraguayan blouses. We each bought a couple. We did not get to eat lunch and were starving but had to wait until 8 pm as that is when restaurants open. We walked around for a while and checked out a German grocery store. Had a great Italian meal.

Tomorrow we will visit a hospital that burnt down once when we were here. We will see the new one. I will show before and after pictures tomorrow. We fly back to Buenos Aires tomorrow evening.

Don't cry for me Argentina

Today was a fun day as you can see. No work...all play. We first visited the famous cematery where Eva Peron is buried. Very cool place with great mausoleums. Fun to walk through. We walked around the area for a while. There is a fun vaca (cow) art display all over. People painted them cool. Jeff is standing by one for Rachel, the vegetarian cow. It is painted with tomatoes and peaches and peas.
We saw lots of cool trees including this one which spreads as big as our yard.
We headed to a place called La Boca. Cool place with lots of art and stuff. We went to the best little hole in the wall place to eat that the Ruckers had found by accident. It was the BEST steak we have ever eaten. To die for. They had some Tango dancers, singers and it was so fun. A little old man sat at the door greeting people. Then he stood up and asked me to dance (guess he had seen the Jib Jab).
We also stopped at this cool tech flower. It closes at night. It is huge.
Tonight we flew over to Paraguay. It is so so smoky here from fires. Work is in store for tomorrow.
We love the new missionary couple here that we are working with. They are from Arizona.

Tango in Buenos Aires

We made it to Buenos Aires at last. Arrived about 10:30 this morning after circling the city for a while so we were a couple of hours late. We had dinner with some of the Missionary couples here. One of them is the Mission Doctor for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. It was a tasty meal. We came back to our room and decided to go for a walk. There is a famous street here called Florida Street which is closed to traffic. We thought everything would be closed on Sunday but just the opposite. It was fun to see everyone out walking. We saw several Tango dancers on the street along with musicians etc. We were going to join them but being Sunday we just watched. Tomorrow evening we will fly to Paraguay. We are going to sight see most of the day. In all of the times we have been here we have not seen any of the sights. Should be a fun day.