Sicknesses

So I started getting a sore throat in SL and then it got worse in SM so finally in Lujan I starting taking some medicine and resting up. But then I got lice and had to go through that whole ordeal. Then when I got rid of the lice, my sciatic nerve starting acting up and has been bothering me ever since and I have got a cold again. GOODNESS GRACIOUS PEOPLE.

Okay, I'm still loving it, I loved Lujan, I love that town so much, I left Wednesday and tried not to cry but of course I did, same as when I had to say goodbye to Natalia in SL. Elsa walked me to the bus stop. I'm getting better at this whole travelling alone thing. Sometimes it is nervewracking, but San Juan was a breeze and I feel really familiar with the whole Mendoza bus terminal now.

Did I mention that they cancelled school and a ton of other things because of the swine flu? Oh goodness it's a huge deal and you can't find hand sanitizer anywhere.

So other than that I've just been hanging out with people I love. Went with Elsa and Silvana to Mendoza downtown and went shopping...had a blast. When back to the Parque San Martin with the Montenegro's, they are so sweet. Man, have I got a ton of pictures I still need to put up online.

Love everyone!

Amanda

Today was awesome. I went to San Juan for the day. I didn't have time to see everyone but I went straight to the benegas house and shared some really awesome moments with Mirtha...she told me all about her trip to the temple and how grateful for is for me. It's actually a really neat story how things worked out for them to be able to go. I'll write it down later. Also I saw Carina and her kids, Michel was working. Leaving San Juan today was the most beautiful drive as the sun was setting, it was super warm today by the way...gotta love the San Juan sun. Anyways, the sunset, with the cordillera in the background and the green farms everywhere, with isolated little brick houses and clothes hanging on the lines and smoke coming out of the chimneys. Awesome. 6 goats, funny street signs, no soap in bathrooms, nasty toilets in busses.

A few things I left out...

There have been elections going on now in Argentina for congress reps and such and the campaigns have been hilarious. Voting in Argentina is mandatory so church was shorter this Sunday because it was voting day. I have some videos of the campaign songs because they crack me up, but through it all I was able to learn a little more how the Argentine government is set up. All I will say is that the president has way to much power.

Another Argentine craze right now is operacion triunfo...Argentina's version of American Idol. And it's pretty dang cool. There are 6 finalists and the final episode is the 12th. 2 of the 6 finalists are from Mendoza, and Cristian, my favorite is from Palmira (town next to San Martin).

I was able to go to institute on Friday with Rebe and Natacha and it was super awesome, if institute were always like that...

I was also able to see part of Mendoza's Parque San Martin, which is like the central park of Argentina (excluding what you might find in Buenos Aires). I barely saw even a sliver of the park, it's HUGE. You need a car to see everything better. Someday I will come back...

So I think I left off when I got to the bus terminal in San Luis and took a bus to San Martin. I was nervous to be travelling alone and I was running late so the Lombino's in San Martin weren't expecting me. Well, they knew I was coming on Saturday, but they didn't know what time. So when I got to the terminal in SM and got my bags and stuff, I tried to call them from a telefonica but it wasn't open, so I walked to their house, and believe it or not, I remembered exactly how to get there! I knocked on the door and Ornella answered. It's so funny, I haven't seen some of these people in 3 and a half years but even though the kids are bigger, it feels exactly the same. You know you are good friends with people when you can pick up exactly where you left off. My week with the Lombino's was good, plus it was good to see some of the members, that ward is still struggling so much but what makes me happy is how many active young men there are in the ward, and they are the only one's in their family who attend. I have so many good examples of what it means to be faithful in San Martin. Rebeca, the oldest Lombino girl is just awesome, I love her so much and she and I had a blast hanging out with Natacha...hopefully the pictures on facebook speak for themselves and I've got some videos I need to put up as well. The crummy thing is that I'm terribly sick and have been so for about a week now, plus today I realized I got lice from some of the kids in San Luis (the first place I went). So this past Saturday (a few days ago) I travelled to Lujan, and again, it was great to be reunited with my friend Elsa. I got off the bus and walked directly to her house like I was running around in Lujan yesterday. Actually today we were walking around and it seriously felt like yesterday. There have been a ton of changes her in Lujan with the ward and the branch that I'm not going to write about because I don't think anyone reading this will care, but let's just say I am very excited for the members here and think the changes are great. Also, the sisters who are serving in Lujan right now are great, and I'm hoping to accompany them later in the week. Everyday I think to myself, if I could, I would move here tomorrow!!!! Also, I have been eating tons of great food, and the best, yesterday I went to my favorite heladeria and bought a kilo of what I always used to buy: 1. mascarpone con frutos del bosque 2. tramontana 3. chocolate michel and 4. dulce de leche con nuez. I am in heaven!!!

Well, I am trying to take care of myself so that I can get well soon and have more energy, also tomorrow Silvana is going to dye my hair to hopefully get rid of the lice, they have been driving me crazy!

So last Thursday Walter and Natalia came and picked me up. I had a blast hanging out with them in Juana Koslay, we just ate and drank mate and played with the kids. Natalia is so awesome, I can't even begin to tell you how much I love that woman. They make all of the hard work during the mission worth it, because they are so faithful and work so hard to make their family a celestial family. Anyways, Friday night Walter dropped me off at the ward dance and guess who was there? Emilce and Diego, Marcela had said they would come but I kind of doubted it. Nati Gomez said she would come but didn't so I'm bummed about that, she's so sweet, such a good girl.

So I had a great time dancing the night away with tons of people I love, Velazquez, Serra, Videla, Buonamico kids, Diaz kids, Alvarez. Then a bunch of YSA showed up and they taught me how to dance for real. They invited me over to Nahuel's house to watch movies. We stayed up until 6 in the morning watching movies and drinking mate...why don't I do that with my friends?

This is seriously a dream

I have dreamed so many nights about seeing these people again, it´s just crazy, I seriously don´t know if I believed I would ever actually be here again. I should start pinching myself to make sure that this is real. Every single place I go I see a million things that bring back all of these memories.

So Tuesday I hopped on the R bus up Martin de Loyola and got off to cross the ruta and enter the barrios nuevos. Of course I had to do this during the day, no way I would do this at night...which is funny to say because I used to live there. So, the barrios nuevos are different. The houses are the same but it´s a lot cleaner and all of the roads where the colectivos pass are paved now, it´s so strange. So, I got a little bit lost, but all in all I think I did pretty well finding veronica´s house. Joana was home and Veronica had gone to comprar for lunch. So I went in and sat at the table and when she came in with her new 7 month old baby it took a second to register. Seriously, it felt so normal to be there. Then the kids started coming home from school, and I went and hid in the kids room when they went to go put their backpacks away I surprised them. They are just as snuggly as ever, just a little bit bigger. Rodrigo to me is the most different...he´s 15 now, that´s so crazy. Axel and Guiliana wanted to play the flour game again. Samuel was very kind and so sweet with the new baby Samiel. I´m kind of tempted to send the Hermanas over there again. I didn´t want to leave, they are such a great family. Plus Veronica makes the best milanesa ever!!!! Oh yeah, I ate escaveche de something, they explained that it was like a rabbit but different...whatever it was it was good. I always ate weird stuff at that house, cow tongue, cow brain.

Okay so yesterday I went with Norma to a TV station where she does a weekly appearance on the tv show of her friend. It´s called revista de mujer. It´s kind of like a morning talk show or something. It´s just a local thing, like being on BYU television but a little bit bigger. Well, I´m sitting there in the studio and she (the friend) starts asking me exactly where I´m from and how to say my name. I thought she was going to have me go on the show for a minute, but thankfully she didn´t. I would have been nervous. But she did mention me on the show that a norteamericana was on the set...ha ha ha. We went to the plaza pringles afterwards and picked up alyson from school. They turned 2 or 3 blocks of Rivadavia into a peatonal, which is really cool.

Then that night the Serra´s picked me up and I had dinner with them. It was funny, they kept saying, "how nice, you don´t have to be home at 10 tonight". I stayed over there until 1 thirty in the morning!!! We talked about Agus and her cystic fibrosis, which she is doing really well and actually seems more healthy to me now that they are doing treatments. Of course Claudio had to talk to me about el matrimonio...which I totally expected. I remember him telling me to hurry up and get married as soon as I got home from the mission. Silly Presidente Serra. Martina is just as funny as ever, now she wants to be Chayanne´s back up dancer instead of Robbie William´s. Marcela is still teaching at the school in Eva Peron. The coolest thing ever is that we had GRIDO for dessert!!!!

Arriving in San Luis

The bus parked at the station and I looked out and saw Normita and Gabriel waiting for me! So we headed home and saw the girls, and it felt like Christmas when they went through the suitcase to see what their grandparents had bought them. I went and showered really quick and got ready for church. It was a stake conference in Pringles downtown. I went and sat down next to Juanita (Gabriel´s sister) and I watched all of these families I love walk in and sit down. The Diaz, Serra, Velazquez, Casari, Alvarez and then walked in Natalia with Yesica and Jeremy. Walter and Juli were sick. She walked in late so I sat there the whole meeting making faces at Jeremy who I only knew from pictures. And after a great Stake Conference I went up to Natalia and looked her right in the eyes and she slowly realized who I was and we just hugged and cryed (a little). Then I got to say hello to so many people that I loved, and I was seriously on cloud 9. I went home and hung out with the Navarro´s. We had some pizza and talked to their relatives in Riverton. I called home real quick to let my parents know that I was alive. We went to La Punta and saw a horse race and also went to Potrero de los Funes...which is a place I never was able to go during the mission. So beautiful, I took a lot of pictures. Also they built a race track for cars out there which I thought was kind of cool. I laughed so hard, Flopi, their youngest daughter is 5 and well, she talks like a 5 year old, she doesn´t pronounce some words correctly. She kept saying pierdas instead of piedras and cuclicula instead of pelicula. Oh, on the way there we drove through Eva Peron, where the psych hospital used to be there is a beautiful park and they have paved most of the roads over there and it looks so nice! Anyways, I came home and the Arenas family came over and took me to their house. It was like I had just been with them yesterday. Something that impresses me so much with them is how much love they have for each other. They´ve got 3 great kids, and they laugh together and enjoy each other´s company. We talked, and they showed me lot´s of pictures of their sealing and I got to play with Jeremy and Juli. Walter is the EQ president and Natalia works in the primary and they are doing so so so well. We made empanadas, of course Jeremy licked all of them while they were sitting on the table waiting to be cooked, he´s such a little boy. Juli talked my ear off and had to be sitting in my lap the entire time (which is funny because I remember her as a sick little baby really). I noticed that Yesica is much more calm now, and very obedient and helpful, she loved telling me about her baptism, and I told her that I am so pround of her and what a good big sister and example she is. I swear we must have eaten dinner at 10 at night, the meal schedule here is very different.

Anyways, Monday was feriado...of course. And I slept in until 1, ha ha ha. I love hanging with the Navarro´s. Same thing as the Arenas. They just love doing things together and get along really well. The little girls don´t leave my side. So I pretty much held flopi´s hand the entire time at El Volcan. El Volcan is a place where I always went on my p´days and it brought back so many memories, oh my goodness. We ran around and took pictures and then went into the building (if you´ve been there you know what I´m talking about) that´s kind of like the lounge area. And who should we find but Mauri and Milena Lucero and some of the other JAS. We played uno and drank mate and it was wonderful!!! We came back after awhile and had cake for Gabriel´s birthday with all the family and snacks and just hung out. So fun. That get´s me caught up to today. The girls headed off to school today, I´m gonna do some laundry and run around and find some people in the Barrios Nuevos. Cariños!!!

Okay, so the next day was Friday and I woke up and Marce and Robert were both working so I took my sweet time showering and getting ready, wandered around the temple complex for a bit and then went in for awhile. So I met up with Marce and I had her call the airport and figure out what was happening with that missing bag of stuff for the Navarro´s. I guess it got stuck in Los Angeles but they told her it was on the way and they would deliver it as soon as it arrived so she gave the airport her address. We decided that I would go spend the night at her house Friday night so we hopped on the bus with all my stuff (minus the missing bag) and took it to her house, then we rushed over to the bus terminal to buy my ticket to go to San Luis on Saturday (it´s not like in Mendoza where you can buy you ticket the same day...like right before you go). I LOVE riding busses in Argentina, they get so crowded with people, moms are picking up their kids from school, people travelling to and from work. I love how every bus driver has a friend or someone who makes friends with him and stands right up by his side the whole time making commentaries about how badly everyone else drives. Also I would add that they drive so crazy here. I don´t think anyone ever comes to a complete stop. I noticed the stoplights turn green to yellow to red...but then they also change back from red to yellow then back to green. Then we had to rush back to the temple to meet Robert. So we met him and headed off to Capital and La Boca and San Telmo. Again, I love riding the bus...I love how crowded they get and watching the people talk to each other. We drove by the Casa Rosada and El Obliesco which I´ll be honest, are cool to see but I didn´t care enough to get out and take a picture because then we would have had to walk way far to La Boca. We got off at La Boca and I took a ton of pictures and also of the Boca stadium and then we walked to Robert´s house in San Telmo. What an awesome building...I would seriously live there it had the BEST view. Well, Robert was tired, he´d been working since 4 in the morning so Marce and I went back to her house to get ready for the dance. Oh, by the way, some time during the day I found out it was Marce´s birthday, she was turning 27...Have I mentioned how much I LOVE HER!!! She is the best, and so are her parents...she has 2 brothers who left for the mission field at the same time, one in Uruguay and one in Paraguay. So the four of had a great dinner of chicken and french fries for Marce´s birthday and then we got ready to go.

Okay, the JAS (young single adults) dance was so fun. I ran into a bunch of people from the mission...Sebastian Casco, Ariel Ciciari, Juan Surache and some that I didn´t know before like Rosa Tolaba and an Elder Navarro. We ended up hanging out with Marce´s friend Marilyn and Eva Aguirre and a bunch of people from her stake. I was feeling super gringa but started to get the hang of how they dance and was having a blast until this guy asked me to dance and I tried telling him that I couldn´t understand him because the music was so loud and I didn´t speak Spanish very well but he kept asking me questions. So finally I understood that he was asking me how old I was so I told him and he was like...wow, that´s old....so I asked him how old he was...and he was 19!!!!! About a minute after that I think he got bored and we stopped dancing. Ha ha ha. Marce and I laughed so hard, she said he was probably just looking for a novia. Silly boy. I will just add that I loved watching how well these guys can dance and it´s not femmy or anything they move really well in a masculine way.

So the next day Marce had to go to work at 5 in the morning even though we didn´t get back from the dance until 1 thirty in the morning. Her dad came back home around 10 in the morning and Marylin and I were still sleeping!! So Mari had to go to work and I went with Brother Terrazas to work. So there I was in the Feria working with Marce and her family in their fruit market, so fun. I mostly just watched and drank mate and ate TONS of fruit but when it was time to close up at 1 I helped load up all the leftover fruit and boxes and cleaned up and we headed back home to nap. After that 9 thirty arrived so soon (when I was supposed to leave for San Luis) so Marce and her mom and I headed off to the terminal. They are so sweet, any time we ever left to go anywhere we had a prayer and they prayed for my safety. So they gave me a lot of tips and warnings for walking around in Mendoza and San Juan and I was off.

That bus ride was awful. The guy next to me was totally drunk, he was nice, but really drunk and he kept elbowing me in his sleep. Plus it smelled awful up on the top floor of the bus and there were no spaces for me to move to. I was in the window seat so I felt really trapped, I just kept pressing up to the window because I was so hot and couldn´t breathe. But 10 hours later I arrived in San Luis at 7 in the morning and hooray, the Navarro´s were waiting for me at the terminal. I can´t even express what I was feeling to drive into my dear city San Luis after almost 3 years. It was exciting to see all the new buildings and to recognize certain places!!!! Okay, I will write more tomorrow about how my time in San Luis has been!

Hasta Ahora

No fotos in this update...just a quick one from Marce´s house. Marce being my 2nd companion in the mission field. She´s from buenos aires and I´m here at her family´s house. So, about the travel...I got lucky in Salt Lake and they were able to check my luggage there and get it sent all the way to Buenos Aires. But when I got to LA I got totally lost and couldn´t find out where I was supposed to go to check in with the other airline. I had to go outside walk around and across over to the international airport...man if I had to carry all that luggage with me too I would have died. So, I get finally about the LAN plane which was taking me to lima. Nobody spoke english, I thought I was going to die, but the plane was super nice, they even had perfume in the bathrooms and everything. There were a ton of chinese and japanese tourists who were headed to cusco and macchu picchu that didn´t understand english or spanish, the poor guys. So I get off in Lima and wander around looking for where I´m supposed to go wait, but it doesn´t say anything on my ticket. Long story short, I had to wait for six hours just to find out which gate to wait at and then another few hours after that point. First I walked around and I met some super sweet japanese ladies who didn´t speak a word of english or spanish but somehow we communicated. They shared a lot of japanese candy with me and I thought that was really nice, but I didn´t like the dried seaweed. It´s amazing how people can communicate without words. Well, finally I gave up walking around because everything was closed and I tried to find a place to sleep, but airport benches are not comfortable, although I guess I did fall asleep for awhile because when I woke up I only had 2 more hours to wait. That airport was FREEZING! Also a ton of people were walking around with the white masks on, I think it must be because of the swine flu.

So I get on the plane to Buenos Aires finally. I got a good few hours of sleep on the plane. I land and have to wait for hours just to get through customs...talk about a pain. Then at baggage I could only find one of my bags and I was super worried at that point because I still don´t know what I´m doing really. This guy who worked at the airport was really rude to me and i thought to myself "welcome to buenos aires amanda". Anyways, turns out my bag was missing and that it would probably show up the next day. So I go to get a taxi and they´re super expensive but anyways, I needed to get to the temple hostel. So the taxi guy helps me call marcela and she told me that she would meet me there. I get there and I walk in the front doors and who is standing there? My buddy elder Mohor...Robert. I was so surprised and relieved and tired. But anyways, he helped me figure out everything and I got a bed at the hostel and changed and Marce showed up and we went to the temple and chatted afterwards and had a grand old time.

Later I will upload a picture of the nice women that I shared a room with in the hostel. One of which traveled from Utah the same day as me...she had just finished her mission on temple square. It was nice because she wanted to speak english still and I was tired of speaking spanish. Also, that night I kept getting terrible charlie horses in my calf muscle and Carolina was so sweet she hopped up to reach me in the top bunk and massaged my muscle until it went away. That´s what I totally love about the latin members, they love you even when they don´t know you!!! Okay, more later about how I spent my friday and saturday in buenos aires!

San Juan

Ivana Aguero and Me

Los Hermanos Benegas

Karina and Mitchel

My 3rd area was San Juan, also spent 4 and a half months there. I am most excited to see how big all the Benegas kids are, see Ivana and her kids and Karina and Mitchel and their kids.

Lujan

Mom and Dad Gonzales

The Rossi Clan (Miriam Gonzales is the mom--holding Juanpi)

(The Suriano's--the mom is Brazilian)

The Montenegro's

Wow, so many people to see in Lujan. I especially look forward to seeing all of the Gonzales family. Mom and Dad Gonzales, plus all their kids and all of their grandkids. I love these guys so much. I'm also excited to see the Suriano's and Montenegro's.

San Martin

San Martin was my first area and also the place where I lived the longest. I grew very close to the Lombino family because I stayed with them when I got sick. They always took very good care of me and loved me like I was one of their own kids. I can't wait to see how big the girls are, and I know I will have a lot of fun with Rebeca (who is studying English).

San Luis

(above: Walter, Guiliana, Yesica and Natalia Arenas)

San Luis was my second area in the mission field, I was there for 4 and a half months. I LOVE the people there. Here are some pictures of the people I can't wait to see...

(the Alvarez Family--above)

(the Navarro's--I am staying with them and I know we will have a blast)

(Bishop Velasquez and Family)

(The Serra's)

(And last but not least, the Diaz family)

I leave in 4 days!!!

I decided to create a blog to document my trip for those of you who may be curious about where I am and what I am doing. Plus this is a nice way for some of you to know that I am actually safe/alive even though I am traveling alone. I thought I would give you a summary of each area and the people that I plan on seeing while I am there (with my old pictures of course). Then, not only will I be freaking out about how different everyone looks, but so can you!