Juarez-Las Lomitas-Resistencia-Formosa

On the road again!

We've done a lot of travel this past week. It started with a trip to Ingeniero Juarez with Presidente Huels. He is the branch president that presides over a group of members that live in Juarez. There are about 12 members that meet together each Sunday for church. We brought them some supplies and president Huels needed to conduct an interview. Juarez is 250 kilometers from us, which is about a 3 hour drive. The roads are not great and you have to drive careful. It's not like flying down the 60 freeway at 80 mph! Pot holes everywhere, animals on the highway, and scooters. I hate the scooters. They go very slow and when passing them it gets a bit tricky.

We also made a stop in Las Lomitas. This town is about 100 kilometers away. Again, we dropped of supplies and the branch president did an interview. Los Lomitas also has about 12 members that meet every Sunday under the direction of a group leader, neither location is a branch. It is difficult for the members to feel connected to the larger church because of the distance and isolated location of the towns. But there are a few faithful that help to keep the meetings going each Sunday. It's sad to see that they do not have the blessings of unity with other saints and they enjoy every visit from missionaries like us and other church leaders.

All the senior couples in Resistencia along with the mission leaders (far left)

After our quick trip to Juarez and Lomitas we went off to Resistencia for a Senior Missionary Couples Summit. Our mission leaders wanted to get all the couples together to share experiences and receive training. It was a fun day! It's a bit unusual for a mission to have so many missionary couples serving at the same time. We have 5 in our mission right now, but two couples will leave in March. Both are from Argentina so we will be left with 3 gringo couples, haha.

The summit was a great idea. We enjoyed meeting with everyone and learning what they have been doing in their areas along with their successes and struggles. We also had training from other church missionaries that help with the church's self-reliance courses and welfare programs. We also got to see Martha's brother and sister-in-law. Along with another couple that oversee the Humanitarian Aid efforts of the church in Argentina. It was a Zoom call but it was fun to see them and hear about all they are doing to provide aid to many organizations within Argentina. It's amazing all the programs the church has to help communities around the world.

After meeting most of the day meeting we were treated to a fun boat tour on the Parana River, which runs between Resistencia and Corrientes. Rosario, where I served 30 years ago, is on the same Parana river. It was super hot that day and we thought it would be refreshing to go out on the river. But it was probably worse. Very humid and hot. However, we did enjoy the boat ride and took some great pictures. After the boat tour we enjoyed a true Argentine asado at a restaurant called Parrillon. We haven't had much steak here in Ibarreta so it was great to go to a restaurant and enjoy some really good meat.

Boats stacked like books

Forklift for moving the boats

At the boat dock we saw this unique way to store the boats. It's like a bookshelf for boats. I thought it was really interesting. This is one of about 4 stacks of boats. They use a forklift to take the boats in and out of the shelving.

Multi-zone conference

The last stop of our travels was in Formosa capital for a missionary zone conference. As part of the conference the missionaries helped in a service project to pack school supplies that will go to some of the students in the area of Formosa. The church in Argentina has been doing this same service project with the youth as part of their For the Strength of Youth conferences. Bill and Carin have shared their experiences with this same type of project.

Elder and Sister Myers (friends of Bill and Carin)

In Formosa, a Humanitarian missionary couple set up the service project. They serve in Paraguay but came to our zone conference because it's very close to Paraguay. Bill and Carin work with the couple and know them well. We visited with the Myers for a bit to share our difference missionary experiences.

Hermana and President Barlow, Jorge Cardozo (mission presidency counselor), Dionicio, Teresa, and of course us.

We completed the week with a District Conference here in Ibarreta. With all of the units and groups so spread out we did not have a huge amount of people but we did have about 40-50 people, which is actually a really good amount for here. Efforts were made to drive members to the conference and we invited a couple to come with us from Bartolome de las Casas. Dionicio and Teresa Flores live about 20 kilometers away. They are awesome. Teresa doesn't speak much Spanish. She speaks Toba, her native language. These native groups are a very humble and kind people.

President Cardozo from Resistencia

President Cardoza is a member of the mission presidency and is a good friend of my former mission president Jorge Ventura. When he found out I served in Rosario with President Ventura he was very excited and had to take a picture to send to President Ventura, who lives in Uruguay. In his talk President Cardozo talked about visiting this area many years ago with a general authority name Jorge Washington Ventura and that he is the only general authority to have visited this area. Of course, I had to let him know he was my mission president. Cardozo's wife also served in Rosario but a few years before me.

Well, that's about it for this week's update. At least we didn't wait two weeks for an update this time! We are really enjoying our work here and can't believe how quickly the time passes. There have been difficult times but also some very rewarding and joyful experiences. Nothing grand or dramatic but it is the small moments we have with individuals that bring the reward of service.

We love you all and pray you will recognize the blessings in your life.