The Gospel in Venado

I’ve been thinking a lot about the dynamics of the church here.  We attend a branch with roughly 400 baptized members – at most, 50 are active.  The retention rate is low. 

The Argentine people are very passionate.  I’ve found that their passion tends to create lots of waves within the church – waves of high numbers, then low numbers.  Sometimes the missionaries get discouraged because their main objective here is to baptize, not to re-activate.  The mission president here has especially encouraged them to focus on baptizing which means it’s solely up to the members to “go & rescue.”

I have a very good friend here who was somewhat of a mentor to me when we first moved to Argentina.  She was a counselor in the district primary presidency.  I love her.  She had the most enthusiasm for her calling than anyone I’d ever met. 

Recently, she was sorely offended by another member over a business deal involving her inactive husband.  This incident cut her to the core, and she decided to become completely inactive along with her three primary age children.  I’ve been so sad over this!

She still communicates with me, so I’m trying to find a way to “rescue” her.  I’m hoping that she’ll realize the significant impact this is having on her & her children.  However, it’s been a testimony builder for me & my family to realize that we all have our free agency, and regardless of other people’s choices, the Church is perfect, the gospel is true, and Christ is at the head of our Church. 

Like Elder Holland said in the last general conference, (I’ll paraphrase here), ‘I’m sure it must be awfully frustrating for Him to work with imperfect people, but that’s all He’s got.’

My Mom & Dad were good sports to let me take and use all these pictures of them in front of our chapel.

Feeling Blessed

 

I came across this picture the other day from a disc my mom sent me in the mail.  She took this picture when her & my dad came to Argentina a few months back.  I love it.

I’m so grateful to have these two handsome boys in my life.  It’s hard to describe the little twinkle in Jared’s eye when he has his boy around, but this picture captures it pretty perfectly.

I also found this picture:

I think it’s going to be one of those pictures that my great grandchildren will talk about someday as they brag about their Grandma AnnMarie or their Grandma Carlie who lived in Argentina when they were cute little sisters that couldn’t live without each other.

Iguazu Falls

Earlier this month, we decided to take the plunge and drive to Iguazu Falls, one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature along the Brazilian & Argentine border.  We figured it’d be our last chance to do it – our time here is winding down. 

I had to get my passport renewed again (my visa issues never got resolved), so we had to head that direction anyway, but I was pretty hesitant about going.  The drive alone is 17 hours one way, and a road-trip in South America isn’t exactly comfortable.  The roads are unpredictable, the rest stops are a nightmare, and fast food doesn’t exist (most rest stops have empanadas & sandwiches de miga for sale, but that’s about it).  I’m still not exactly sure how Jared talked me into going, but now that it’s over, I’m glad we went.

Luckily, one of the farms Jared oversees has a ranch house that we stayed in to break up the drive.  We drove about 6 hours the first day and 11 hours the next day.  Overall, the driving on the way up wasn’t too bad.  I had a cooler stocked full of food that suited my standards, and we hooked up Jared’s iPad so that we could listen to some American tunes.  We stayed in a beautiful hotel just outside of the Iguazu National Park.  Our view from the room was incredible.

We felt like we were in the jungle.  It was easy to see why Indiana Jones was filmed here.

We gave ourselves 2 days to see Iguazu Falls.  In reality, a person could spend 5 days here and still not see everything.  I thought it’d be as simple as driving into a parking lot, walking up a small trail, and bam, there they’d be, but oh no, I was sorely wrong.  There are several views of the Falls, and depending on which view you choose to see, it’s a few miles of train riding, walking, and hiking to see that one view. 

We were so glad we had this bad boy of a jogger stroller.  You would not believe how many people were just plain floored to see such a “monstrous thing.”  There was one lady that actually acted scared when she saw it; she thought it had a motor or something.  It does look a little robotic when the rain cover is down, so I’ll give her that much.  

 

The trails were so beautiful; they felt magical.  

 

We had to watch out for these strange looking raccoons.  They were everywhere, and not shy at all, especially if you had food.

Notice the group of raccoons clustered in the middle-left side of the photo:

I was pushing Gabe in his car seat stroller the whole time.  He handled everything pretty good, but as we got closer to the Falls, the bridges got a little thinner and his ride was rickety.  It rained on & off, but the children were sheltered…and that’s all the matters, right? ;)  Yeah, Jared & I got soaked. 

  

We saw these exotic birds at one point along the path.

Almost there!

And then finally…with winds and rainfall blasting in our faces…we made it!

The Devil’s Throat:

This panoramic shot makes me laugh…

We came out alive – see how “monstrous” that jogger looks!

The sunshine came out just in time to check out the gift shops. 

The pictures do not do it justice, especially since we were there on a very rainy day. 

The next day, we had planned to spend another full day at the Falls, but during the night, Jared got so so sick.  I’ve only seen him get sick one time in our married life, and it was nothing compared to whatever it was that struck him during our trip.  We had to make the best of our day in the hotel, and the drive home was difficult to say the least (like the hardest two days of my life – EVER!), but all & all, we made it, and I’m so incredibly grateful that we had the opportunity to go & see something so magnificent.

(Jared was sick for the following week, and we decided that it must’ve been salmonella based on his symptoms and the fact that the rest of the family was okay.)

Everyone’s doing good now. :)