Trip to Argentina

On July 1, 2011 our good friends Ray and Diane Heyman moved to Resistencia, Argentina to be the Mission President of that mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  That calling involved a lot of sacrifice on their part (quitting his job, moving away from family and friends, etc.)  So Florence and I bought airline tickets to fly down for a week visit with them as a going away gift.  Now don't think that we are such a great gift, but we wanted to see them, get to know their mission, experience the mission life, and see Northern Argentina.  Ten months later we were off to Argentina.

 In November 2011 our son Ian received his mission call.  It was to Montevideo, Uruguay.  The unique thing was he was assigned to the MTC in Buenos Aires, Argentina to report March 15th.  A quick calculation and we were going to be in Buenos Aires at the same time he would be on his mission.  The above picture was taken of Florence in front of the MTC, or as they call it in Argentina the CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misional).

As our time to begin our trip approached we received a request from President Openshaw, the President of the CCM and his wife to bring down some shoes for a size 17 footed elder.  We were glad to do so.  President Openshaw told us up front that it would be unfortunate that we would be so close to our son but could not see him.  We had no problem with that as Florence said it was hard enough the first time to send him off.

When we arrived at the gate to drop off the shoes (and a few other things like peanut butter, double stuff oreos, and a complete Costco Chocolate cake that we had brought down)

The guard told us to just go in the door on the side of the building.  Nobody was on the first floor so we went up one floor and found Sister Openshaw.  She quickly ushered us into their apartment so Ian would not see us.  She then went and got his instructor who came up and told us "Elder Hatch knows you are in the building".  How did he know--he heard his Dad's laugh.  He knew he was not suppose to see us so when he heard dad laugh he headed upstairs in the opposite direction.

Florence asked Sister Openshaw and the Sister who was teaching at the MTC (sorry, the CCM) to give Ian a hug for her.  I reminded her that could not happen.  We all laughed.  We were on our way in less than five minutes.  

 Here we are in front of the Buenos Aires Temple.  Unfortunately it was under construction and will not be re-dedicated until mid-september, so we were not able to attend a session.  The temple is located right along the freeway very close to the international airport.  Buenos Aires is a little weird when it comes to airports.  All international flights come into one airport.  You then have to catch a cab and travel 45 minutes to an hour across town to the domestic airport to fly to Resistencia.  We made the stop at the CCM and the temple along the way.

 We found out when we got to the domestic airport (Aeroparque) that they would not accept our luggage until 3 hours before our flight.  We just put it all on a luggage cart and pushed it across the street and sat next to the edge of the Rio de la Plata River, which is right across the street from the airport terminal.  We enjoyed sitting in the park for an hour or so and were finally able to check in our luggage.

 After that we were off for a few hours of street walking through Buenos Aires.  Along the way we passed quite a few of these Churrasco stands cooking some great smelling Argentine meats, so on the way back we stopped and ate at the one that smelt the best as we walk by the first time.  Yum.

We arrived in Resistencia around 28 hours after we left Phoenix.  Phoenix-Dallas, layover.  Dallas-Buenos Aires, airport switch, layover.  Buenos Aires-Resistencia.  Ray and Diane (Presisdente y Hermana Heyman) were at the airport to meet us and after gathering all of our luggage we drove back to their home located right in the heart of Resistencia.  After a nice dinner in their home we strolled to a local Ice Cream parlor and enjoyed some helado.  We then walked 5 minutes to the mission office and toured the chapel that it is located next to.

Saturday morning we left at around noon to head to Formosa.  Formosa has been organized as a stake for some time.  They were having their stake conference that weekend so we went to that.  The drive was around 2 1/2 hours and as we were approaching the town there on my left was the local flying club.  Of course we had to stop.

 They had a old Cessna 182 there and after a short visit with the flight instructor he offered to give me a ride over to the real airport because he needed to fuel the plane.  I declined, not for want, but for safety--I made it a rule a long time ago to not fly with people I don't know, or airplanes I do not know.  But it was nice that he offered.  They had a nice 3,000 ft. grass strip there in Formosa.

The Stake Conference in Formosa was impressive.  They had over 60 brethren at the Priesthood Leadership session of the conference and 2 of the speakers used PowerPoint presentations as part of their talks for teaching.  The content and presentation was every bit as good as here in Chandler.

The Saturday evening sessions as well as the Sunday sessions we just as good.  We drove home Sunday afternoon back to Resistencia.

Monday morning came early and Florence and Diane enjoyed going walking throughout the city.  Afterwards they started making dinner for 55 people after the zone/district leader conference.

Here they are in Diane's kitchen making meatloaf for all of the missionaries at the leadership conference.  Question:  How much hamburger does it take to feed 55 hungry missionaries?  44 lbs (20 kilos of hamburger)

 While that was going on, the Elders were at the Stake center being taught by the assistants and their mission president, Presidente Heyman

 Here he is working with an elder on his approach with a difficult investigator (yes I was drafted)

 There were about 8 of these scenarios and so after the first elder was called upon to go through this in front of the other 45 elders he got to pick who was next so lots of fun.

After the conference, which was around 8 hours of teaching, the missionaries walked the five minutes to the Heyman's home for dinner

Here is the chow line.  The menu consisted of Meatloaf, baked potatoes, tossed salad with Italian dressing and desert was apple pie with vanilla ice cream

Remember when I told you 44 lbs of hamburger was used to make the meatloaf.  Here is why--I swear that the potion size of meatloaf was the size of a brick.

 Here is Sister Heyman serving her homemade apple pie as dessert with the ice cream

I am not sure the elders really liked the dessert though-----NOT!!!!!!

Believe it or not this room is built on the back of their home.  It is perfect for training the missionaries as well as feeding them and it even has a few bunk rooms and showers/bathrooms for when the Elders come and depart from the mission.

Here we are after a long day of training and eating.  Sister Heyman said it best, "the days are long, but the weeks go by fast"

 Since I went to the effort to get a local Sim card for our iPhone we were able to keep in touch via emails.  We received this picture showing that when Benson was asked "where is Grandma?" he was able to point to her in the picture.  What a way to make Grandma smile.  

 Grandma usually babysits Benson on Thursdays when Jenni goes to work at her dental office.  For the 2 Thursdays that we were in Argentina, Jennifer Ray took care of him.  Here is he hanging with Kyle.

 After stake conference for 2 days and training missionaries for a day we were off to see beautiful Argentina. 

You may ask "Why does he have a picture of such happy people eating at a McDonalds"?  Well, this is the only McDonald's restaurant in their entire mission boundaries, which is extensive and covers five provinces (like states here in the US).  It takes 18 hours to drive from the further city on one side of the mission to the furthest on the other side.  

In fact, when President Heyman really wants to take Sister Heyman out on the town, this is where they go (at least they did for their last anniversary).  It is about 30-45 mins away in the city of Corrientes.

The McDonald's is part of the mall which also includes up until recently the only Walmart.  I of course had to check out their dental products isle.  Not bad.  

We stayed at Posadas which is about 4-4 1/2 hours or half way to Iguazu falls.  Beautiful city, and the church has a stake there.  Here is Florence and Diane with the mission Car.

In front of our hotel.

Here is a picture of the back of our hotel in Iguazu Falls, the Loi Suites.  Beautiful location, and the restaurant fixed the best dishes.  

A nice Argentine Steak!

 Here we are visiting Iguzu Falls way up to the North right next to Brazil.  

 They had built all of these walkways to walk out and see the different falls, and there are lots of them to see.  Here are 10 interesting facts about the Falls:

1.  Iguazu Fals are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border with Brazil.  The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu.

2.  The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 1.67 miles of the Iguazu River

3.  The first European to find the falls was the Spanish Conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541.  The falls were rediscovered by Boselli at the end of the nineteenth century.

4.  Some of the individual falls are up to 269 ft. in height, but the majority are 269 ft.  The Devil's Throat, a U-shaped 490 ft by 2300 ft falls is the most impressive of all.

5.  About .56 miles of the 1.67 miles does not have water flowing over it.  The edge of the falls only recedes .1 inch/year.  The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains into the Parana River in Argentina.  

6.  Iguazu current has the greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world.  

7.  Taller than Niagara Falls and twice as wide, Iguazu Falls are the result of a volcanic eruption which left a large crack in the earth.

8.  The best time to see Iguazu is in the spring and fall (we were there in the fall)

9.  The area is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

10.  On her first sight of the tremendous falls, Eleanor Roosevelt exclaimed:  "Poor Niagara"!

 Here is the big boy on the block.  It is called "The Devils Throat"

 We found this interesting looking caterpillar

 I cannot recall the name of this animal but they were very friendly and everywhere

 I tried to get Florence to do a pull up but she said it was too thick to hold onto

We took a boat over to La Isla San Martin (San Martin Island).  The view from there was spectacular.

Here is a video of the boat ride right up and into part of the falls.  Yes, the camera survived.  

After spending parts of 2 different days looking at the falls it was time to head to the jungle and do some zip lining at high speed through the trees and repelling down a water fall.   

Fun Stuff!!! 

In summary, we had a fantastic trip.  Great friends.  Beautiful scenery.  Lots of food.  And a chance to see missionary work in action.  What more could you want in a vacation.