november in the mission

The missionaries will see this video when we have our P-day Navideño on the 23rd of December. In fact, they haven't even seen the month in the mission video for October yet. That will happen during our upcoming zone conferences.
Los misioneros van a ver este video cuando tengamos nuestro Pday Navideño el 23 de diciembre. de hecho, todavía no han visto el video de octubre tampoco. Va a pasar cuando tengamos nuestras conferencias por zonas este mes.

district conference in lujan

It was the district conference in Lujan. We had a very warm day and all of the fans were running. They even brought an extra portable fan for the floor of the stand to help out all of the men in suits. About 450 people attended the conference. Among them were 25 people who were getting baptized after the conference.
There was one family group that started out a few months ago when the grandmother got baptized. Now she has the opportunity to witness the baptisms of several of her children and grandchildren.
The missionaries set up meeting points on the grounds for photos after the conference and before the baptisms.
Fue la conferencia de distrito en Luján. Tuvimos un día con un montón de calor y todos los ventiladores estuvieron andando. También había un extra para los hermanos llevando trajes en la plataforma. Mas o menos 450 personas asistieron a la conferencia. Entre ellos 25 personas estuvieron esperando sus bautismos después de la conferencia.

Había un grupo familiar que empezaron hace pocos meses cuando la abuelita se bautizo. Ahora ella tiene la oportunidad de ver los bautismos de algunos de sus hijos y nietos.

Los misioneros tuvieron lugares listos en el jardín para sacar fotos después de la conferencia y antes de sus bautismos.

argentine scouts

There was a multi-stake meeting to promote scouting in the church here in Argentina. Elder Viñas was the featured speaker. Our mission was asked to provide missionaries to sing the last two verses of called to serve at the end of the meeting. Thus, making the connection between skills and leaderships experiences offered by scouting as a means to prepare to go on a mission. They surprised all who were in attendance when they marched in.
 
Habia una reunión de algunas estacas juntas para promover los escouts en la iglesia acá en Argentina. Elder Viñas fue el disertante. Los líderes de los escouts les pidieron algunos de nuestras elderes que canten los ultimos versículos de Llamado a Servir para el fin de la reunión. Asi pueden hacer la conexión entre experiencias de liderazgo en escouts como una preparación para servir una misión.

Fue una sorpresa para todos que estuvieron allá cuando vinieron.

a family celebration

We are blessed this Thanksgiving to celebrate with some of our family.
Estamos muy bendecidos este Día de Acción de Gracias por la oportunidad de celebrar con algunos miembros de nuestra propia familia.

a weekend to remember forever

The Hollands, the Christoffersons and the Soareses have been traveling throughout Chile for the past week or so, but they arrived in Buenos Aires on Thursday. I was invited to a little luncheon at the area offices and we honored those three sisters. There was a short demonstration of Argentine folklore dances and the elders joined us for a few minutes.


On Friday, the three couples were the featured speakers at a fireside that evening. It was broadcast throughout Argentina. I put together a little supper for the group at the offices in Ramos Mejia.

Of course, Saturday morning we had our meeting with the missionaries. It was amazing and the missionaries are basking in the glow of inspiration that we enjoyed.

The Soareses gave Brianna the opportunity to practice Portuguese. I think Elder Soares speaks 4 languages…Portuguese, English, Spanish and French. Sister Soares speaks Portuguese and English. So, the three of them bonded in Portuguese.
Sunday was extraordinary for us. All of the area authorities had assignments so it fell to our family to pick up the Hollands and shuttle them around. I was sitting in the back seat of the car and picked my camera and shot a picture. I just want to always remember that. We had a very lively conversation, but one part was particularly funny for me. My husband and I were married in the St. George Temple and so were our three married daughters. When Elder Holland asked Brianna if she was going to be married there as well, she paused. Then she explained that she was adopted and had been sealed to us in the Florida Orlando Temple, so it has always been her dream to be married there. Without missing a beat, Elder Holland said to her in all seriousness that since she has already had a great experience in the Florida Tempe, she should opt for St. George for her marriage. Brianna laughingly cried out, “No!!!!!!! Now my dad will never let me forget that you said that!” After all the laughter subsided, Elder Holland continued with the explanation that he was not saying that as an apostle, but only as a boy from St. George.

Eventually, we arrived in Merlo, and while Elder Holland was looking over the agenda for the conference, he added 3 speakers…a returned missionary, Brianna and me. Of course, nobody in the meeting wanted to listen to anybody except for Elder Holland. Church started and 10:00 and we sang the intermediate hymn at 10:30. Brianna spoke, then I spoke.
I told an experience we had more than 20 years ago when Elder Holland was the area president in England. He came to a stake conference, and I was so disappointed that his wife was not able to accompany him on that occasion. Love her! As Presidente was walking to the podium, Elder Holland told him to take all the time he wanted. Sister Holland spoke for 15 minutes and Elder Holland then spoke for a full 45 minutes. It was so incredibly reverent  that both Elder and Sister Holland commented on the fact. Merlo just had their stake conference 5 weeks ago. Elder Holland explained that when they were planning their trip, they noticed that an apostle had not been to Merlo for 33 years. I am sure everyone felt rewarded for their patience. We later found out that among our missionaries there were 38 investigators there.
After the conference, we met up with the other general authorities at the CCM. Elder Holland had asked to see the “new” Buenos Aires Temple, so the temple president and his wife met us there.

Later, we made an unscheduled run to the airport to return an item that had inadvertently been left in our car.

Los Holland, los Christofferson y los Soares han estado viajando en Chile hace una semana mas o menos pero llegaron a Buenos Aires el jueves. Estaba invitada para almorzar en las oficinas del area para honrar a estas tres hermanas. Había una demostración corta de algunos bailes tradicionales de Argentina y los elderes se juntaron con nosotros para eso.

El viernes los tres maridos hablaron en una reunión especial esa noche. Fue por satélite sobre el país. Hice una cena litem para el grupo en las oficinas de Ramos Mejía.

Por supuesto, el sábado tuvimos nuestra reunión con los misioneros. Fue increíble y los misioneros todavía están muy animados recordando la inspiración y sentimientos que disfrutamos.

Los Soares son de Brasil entonces, Brianna tuvo la oportunidad de practicar Portuguese. Pienso que el Elder Soares habla 4 idiomas, Portuguese, ingles, español y francés. La Hermana Soares habla Portuguese e Ingles entonces los tres hablaron Portugués juntos.

El domingo fue un día extraordinario para nosotros. Todos las autoridades del area tuvieron sus propias asignaciones entonces tuvimos la oportunidad de llevar los Holland a algunos lugares.

Estaba sentando al fondo del auto entonces saque una foto. Quiero recordar este momento para siempre. jTuvimos una conversación muy animada per una parte fue mas divertido para mi. Mi esposo y yo nos casamos en el templo de St. George y nuestras tres hijas tambien. Cuando el Elder Holland le pregunto a Brianna si ella va a casarse allá tambien, ella espero. Después, ella le explico que fue adoptada y fue sellada a nosotros en el   templo en Orlando entonces siempre ha sido su sueno casarse alla. Sin pausa, el Elder Holland le respondió que ya tiene una experiencia linda en Orlando y necesita elegir St. George para su casamiento.

Con una sonrisa grande ella grito, No!!!! Ahora mi padre no me va a dejar olvidar que Ud. me dijo eso. Después de todas las risas el Elder Holland continuo con la explicación que el no estaba hablando como un apóstol pero solamente como un chico de St. George.

Al fin, llegamos a Merlo y mientras el Elder Holland estaba buscando el horario para la conferencia el agrego 3 disertantes, un misionero retornado, Brianna y yo. Por supuesto, nadie quería escuchar a nadie menos que al Elder Holland. La iglesia empezó a las 10 y cantamos el himno intermedio a las 10.30. Brianna hablo y yo hable.

Les conte acerca de una experiencia que tuvimos hace 20 anos cuando el Elder Holland era el Presidente del area en Inglaterra. Vino a nuestra conferencia del la estaca y estaba muy triste que su esposa no estaba con el en aquella ocasión. La amo!

Cuando el Presidente estaba caminado al podio para hablar el Elder Holland le dijo, por favor, use el tiempo que quiera. La Hermana Holland hablo por 15 minutos y después el Elder Holland hablo por 45 minutos completos. Fue muy reverente y ambos, el Elder Holland y la Hermana Holland, les comentaron acerca de eso.

Justo hace 5 semanas, Merlo tuvo su conferencia de la estaca. El Elder Holland no explico que cuando ellos estuvieron planeando su viaje, notaron que hace 33 anos que un apóstol no va a Merlo. Estoy segura que todos estuvieron recompensados por su paciencia. Mas tarde aprendimos que había 38 investigadores allá.

Después de la conferencia, nos reunimos con las otras autoridades generales en el CCM. El Elder Holland ha pedido ver el nuevo templo de Buenos Aires, entonces, el Presidente del Templo y su esposa, la Directora nos encontraron allá.

Mas tarde fuimos al aeropuerto para darles algo suyo que quedo en nuestro auto.

the argentina buenos aires west mission

elder holland

We have had so much excitement this week. However, today was the best because ALL of the missionaries got to come in from hither and yon to participate in the conference with Elder Holland. Also speaking today we had Sister and President Gonzalez (our area president), Sister and Elder Soares (from the Presidency of the Seventy) and Sister Holland. There were 841 missionaries there as nearly as we could count. Last night and today there were photos taken inside the chapel by the technology people and I am fortunate enough to have some of those to share.

I didn’t realize exactly how huge our group of missionaries is until we asked them to all come forward and sit in the chapel after the meeting ended. It is a huge chapel and even though they were sitting shoulder to shoulder, we still needed some of the overflow space. It is the most beautiful and spiritually impressive experience to be among these missionaries.

We had a mission photo taken before the meeting by a pregnant lady on a ladder…so we will hope for the best with that one. You can see we were all looking up at her. We were able to take a few candid shots, as well.

I hope that the missionaries will all share their experience with their families. You can imagine what it was like when I tell you that after it was over and we needed all 841 of them to return to their areas, there was hardly a sound in the building for 10 or 15 minutes even though everyone was moving and leaving. We just wanted to keep the perfect joy we felt among us.

I will write a little bit more about the past few days and other events that the missionaries did not attend, later next week.