More of Yesterday´s Sister´s Conference

Our Sister´s Conference Yesterday

We got 15 new missionaries today, and one Assistant yesterday!!!

We picked up 15 new missionaries early this morning! There were 10 Elders and 5 Sisters.

13 of the North American missionaries arrived from the U.S. at 7:30 this morning, after flying all night, and 2 South American missionaries came from the Missionary Training Center here in Buenos Aires.

We took the new missionaries to the temple, where our Assistants took photos of all of us in various poses in front of the temple.

Our Assistants, as usual, had all of our cameras hanging from their arms as they snapped the photos. That´s our new Assistant, Elder Aceituno, from Chile, on the left of Elder Fox.

Elder Woodmansee´s parents picked him up yesterday. We´re going to miss you Elder W!

Welcome Elder Aceituno!

After the Temple, we took all the new missionaries to the Mission home, where President Benton

interviewed them, and they had an "Argentine" lunch of "Milanesa" and "Puree de Papas", salad, and cake and delicious Argentine ice cream.

After lunch, we encouraged all the North American missionaries to take a nap, because they had been flying all night last night and they instantly complied with our wishes, falling asleep in various poses all around the Mission Home.

After the nap, they listened to some teachings by President Benton, then it was off for a walk by the "Rio de La Plata", and, after that, they rode in a bus to the Mission Offices, where they met their new missionary companions for the first time, received some more training, and then went off with their new companions to spend the night in their assigned apartments.

This all added up to lots of new sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences for a group of very wonderful, and very excited young adults!

We are sure thrilled to have them all in our Mission!

We love our missionaries!!!

We so much love working with all of our missionaries!!! Here are some photos of some of the activities we´ve had with our missionaries over the last couple of months.

The top photo is of our fearless leader, President Benton, heading up a mini army of our missionaries, as they "Adelante, con Fe y Esperanza!" (Go Forward, with Faith and Hope).

The next photo is of four of our missionaries that work in the Mission Office. From left to right: Our Assistant, Elder Woodmansee, from Oceanside, California, our "Financier", Elder Maxwell, from West Jordan, Utah, our "Pensionier" (Missionary Apartment Manager), Elder Varela, from Riverton, Utah, and our Assistant, Elder Fox, from Spanish Fork, Utah.

Next, we are standing with some of our departing missionaries and some of their parents at the "Casa Rosada", where Juan and Evita Peron made speeches from the balcony in the late l940´s.

We loved our "Mission Tour" with Elder and Sister Zivic, and there are a few photos of the Zivics and us with one of our Mission Zones.

There´s us posing with our two beloved Senior Missionary couples, the Hendersons, from Orem, Utah, on the left, and the Smiths, from Orem, Utah, on the right.

In the next photo, we´re all pointing at Elder Pollock, our former Assistant, from Heber, Utah, because he is going home and it´s his going away ceremony.

Then, there we are posing with our Sister Missionaries, who are always ready for a "photo shoot"!

There we are holding our "Best Mission in the World" banner outside the Buenos AiresTemple with new missionaries.

Then, more photos of our office missionaries as they demonstrate the "Coordinated Missionary Leg Cross" while waiting outside the Temple.

Next, more Sister Missionary photos, and another of the Elder and Sister Zivic Tour, and the bottom photo is of all the office missionaries just before Elder Pollock left to go home.

It all adds up to many wonderful and gratifying experiences we have had with our missionaries. They all fill our lives and our work with great joy!

We´re back online!

Our internet was down for about a month and a half, so we haven´t been able to do blog posts (or email either).

We´re so HAPPY to be back online!

The latest news: My hero, President Evrett Benton, had his car stolen one week ago today, by 2 men who were posing as policemen, and who pulled guns on him. He was "kidnapped" by these men and driven around for 45 minutes in their car, while one of the men "hid" our car, and disabled the car´s security system.

While driving around with the robbers in their car, my hero was able to given them the "First Discussion" and tell them how families can be together forever!He was also able to give them the wise counsel that they should consider changing their line of work. What a guy!!!!

We´re all very happy that President Benton is OK, and we are thankful to the Church for helping us so much on all levels during this trial in our lives. We're "up and running" again, and we hardly missed a beat in the work, due to the excellent, efficient, and loving support of the Church organization in our area. Thanks soooo much President Bowen and Staff!

We´re all deeply grateful to all of our friends and loved ones too. Your love and prayers continue to be a centerpiece of our strength here in Argentina. As President Hinckly once said, simply, "Prayer works!" We so much appreciate your continued prayers, support, and love.

Yesterday was President Benton´s birthday, and I posted here a photo of him blowing out candles on his two large "Texas Fudge Cakes" at a missionary zone conference on his birthday.

My birthday was September ll, and the sweet office missionaries gave me a surprise "heart attack" on a wall in the Mission Home for my birthday. They wrote some thoughtful notes on some of the hearts too. I´m campaigning for the hearts to stay up on the wall for at least another year!

The top photo is of President andSister Bowen singing "Happy Birthday" to me on my birthday. They are sweethearts.

A Visit From A General Authority

Just to let all our beloved ones that we are still working away on the work of the Mission here in Buenos Aires, we thought we´d post this very special photo of us with Elder Claudio Zivic and his wife Dina Zivic.

Elder Zivic is a "Seventy" in the Church, and he and Sister Zivic visited us last week for a "Mission Tour". We always learn so much from people
like the Zivics, and we we were honored to be in their presence for three wonderful days!