Both of us felt very fortunate to be able to go back to the mission we served in (we served two years apart). Even better was the fact that we had both served in the same mission, and even in some of the same cities. It was so much fun to be able to visit the different people each of us had known.
MAR DEL PLATA (Argentina's Miami beach)
The first city we visited was Mar del Plata, where Lincoln ended his mission and Alisia started hers. Before we visited anyone that lived in Mar del we first had to stop by the missionaries house and visit OUR COUSIN!
That's right Sharla Kjar, Lincoln's cousin, is currently serving in Mar del Plata. We got to talk to her the night we arrived, and then we took her to lunch the next day. It was so fun to see a cousin and get to talk to her during our tour.
That's right Sharla Kjar, Lincoln's cousin, is currently serving in Mar del Plata. We got to talk to her the night we arrived, and then we took her to lunch the next day. It was so fun to see a cousin and get to talk to her during our tour.
Our favorite part was we got to give her a big hug as we left.
Our first visit after Sharla was Elizabeth. Alisia had taught Elizabeth several lessons when she was in Mar del Plata, and not long after she left, Elizabeth was baptized.
Elizabeth with daughters Naomi and Luz
After visiting Elizabeth in Alisia's old area we went to Lincoln's old area to visit his friends and had our first of many Asados!
Diego Mitchell, the Asado chef
Meat from asado: pork, beef, ribs, spicy sausage, blood sausage and more.
There is nothing like a classic Argentine Asado. You know your friends with people when the invite you over for an asado. One of our favorite meats was the spicy sausage. It's called chorizo and is so good with bread. The blood sausage, however, is not so good. Lincoln tried it and didn't like it, and Alisia didn't even want to do that.
The party!
The Mitchell family (Shyselle, Yoana, Angelica, Katy, Diego)Shyselle and Yoana were baptized while Lincoln was in Mar del Plata, and soon after he left Angelica and Diego got married and were baptized. About a year later the entire family was sealed in the temple.
Flia. RodriguezSilvia and Alan (far right) were baptized while Lincoln was in the area. Nestor still isn't baptized, but some day...
Enjoying the asado together.
Everyone that serves in Mar del Plata has to take some pictures in some key places in the city. Since we were together we figured we had to take these pictures...again.
Giant Seal pic: perhaps the most popular one in the mission
The date pic: Every day the city changes the rocks to reflect the date
The Cathedral
The Quilmes PierEl Peatonal...
El Peatonal: the pedestrian street. Several big cities in Agentina have peatonals where the street is just a big sidewalk and cars are not allowed.
Random statue
Picture from hotel room
BALCARCE
Balcarce was our next stop on the trip. This was Alisia's last area. The first family we visited was one of Alisia's favorites, la familia Facilioni. Just before Alisia moved to Balcarce one of the sons had passed away. Alisia and her companion were a great strength to them during this hard time.
Flia. Facilioni
For some reason in this photo the camera decided to slice Lincoln's head in half...kinda crazyThe next house we visited was that of La Flia. Pereira. The two got married and Adrian, the husband, was baptized while Alisia was in Balcarce. As you can imagine, Alisia volunteered to give Giselle a makeover for her big day. She told Lincoln all about how great Alisia was and how she had made her wedding day extra special.
Adrian and Giselle
Giselle with her daughter
We also visited Belen, who was baptized when Alisia was in Balcarce
After our day in Balcarce we stayed at Cristian and Romina's house. Alisia had been companions with Romina in Balcarce. They were great hosts.IN ROUTE TO OLAVARRIA...
Downtown TandilOne of Lincoln's favorite parts of Argentina is the speed limit...
...or maybe it's more the lack of enforcement of the speed limit. You can go as fast as you want without being pulled over, and trust us, we pushed the cars to its limit...
OLAVARRIA
Next stop was Olavarria. Both of us spent some time in Olavarria so we had a lot of people to visit.
One of the first people we visited was Julia Paez from Punta Alta (more on Punta Alta later), one of Alisia's favorite persons in the whole mission. Like Alisia, Julia grew up in a family of all boys, so the two easily related to each other and stayed in contact after the mission. Julia married Pablo Paez, who grew up in Lincoln's first area and served his mission in DC. (Lincoln even took Pablo out to lunch while he was a missionary in DC).
One of the first people we visited was Julia Paez from Punta Alta (more on Punta Alta later), one of Alisia's favorite persons in the whole mission. Like Alisia, Julia grew up in a family of all boys, so the two easily related to each other and stayed in contact after the mission. Julia married Pablo Paez, who grew up in Lincoln's first area and served his mission in DC. (Lincoln even took Pablo out to lunch while he was a missionary in DC).
Julia & Pablo PaezOur next stop was the Flia. Santillan. While Lincoln was in Olavarria Maria and her oldest daughter, Judith were baptized. Since then the second oldest daughter, Ludmila, has been baptized.
Flia Fuentes. Of course their girls loved Ali and were so excited to see her again
Flia. Cardozo and Gisella
Several of the girls from Olavarria
Flia Lopez
Flia. Dechiaro. Ali worked a lot with this family, helping them return to church. It took some time, but they are now active members in the church again.
One of the last families we visited was Flia Reyna. Maria, the grandmother, and her two granddaughters, Margarita and Marisol were baptized while Lincoln was in Olavarria. Soon after that Raul, the grandfather, and their daughter Paula were baptized. Some of the best news Lincoln ever got on the mission was that Raul was getting baptized.
Flia Reyna. Paula (far right), Raul, Marisol (in middle holding baby), Margarita, and Maria (next to Ali)
Picture from Hotel Santa Rosa in OlavarriaThere is nothing better than empanadas. We took advantage of our time in Argentina and ate way too many...but it was worth it!
Lincoln enjoying his box of fresh empanadasPUNTA ALTA
Alisia's favorite area of her mission was Punta Alta. She spent three transfers there and had some of her favorite companions while she was there. While we were in Punta Alta we stayed with Flia. Fiaboni, Julia's family. They were great hosts and, of course, we had an asado with them. It was an excellent asado - Alisia's favorite. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture with Flia. Fiaboni.
While we were in Punta Alta we visited Ali's grandma...or missionar grandma. Whenever Alisia and her companion didn't have much to do they would stop by grandma's for a nice chat and some warm hot chocolate.
While we were in Punta Alta we visited Ali's grandma...or missionar grandma. Whenever Alisia and her companion didn't have much to do they would stop by grandma's for a nice chat and some warm hot chocolate.
Adela and her daughter: Alisia's grandma on the mission.Our last visit of the mission tour was, perhaps, the most uplifting. When Alisia was on her mission she met Paula Correa and her husband, David. Paula was a member of the church, but had no interest in attending. David wasn't a member, and didn't have any interest in joining. For eight years the Elders had been visiting their house trying to get Paula to return and to baptize David. For those eight years nothing changed, until two sister missionaries stopped by, Alisia and her companion.
While Alisia was in Punta Alta, Paula started going back to church, and David finally realized that he had found the truth and was baptized. Before Alisia left Punta Alta, she promised them that one day she would return to visit them and would bring her husband. We fulfilled that promise!
We spent the entire evening with them and got to hear about their trip to the Buenos Aires temple to be sealed for eternity. They told us of the hard times they had been through in the recent years, but how the church has been a blessing for them. They told us how the past year they had made a 16-hour car ride, every month, to attend the temple in Buenos Aires. Sometimes they would drive straight through the night just to make it. That really put things into perspective for us. We were lucky to make it to the temple as often as they did and we only live 40 minutes away.
Perhaps the best thing we could have heard from them was that they are still active in the church. Paula is a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency and David is the Elder's Quorum President.
We had so much fun talking to them about everything, from the church to politics, to crock-pots. Apparently crock-pots haven't made it down to Argentina yet. They were really excited when we told them just what a crock-pot could do. The guys thought it was the best invention ever, and could replace a wife...
While Alisia was in Punta Alta, Paula started going back to church, and David finally realized that he had found the truth and was baptized. Before Alisia left Punta Alta, she promised them that one day she would return to visit them and would bring her husband. We fulfilled that promise!
We spent the entire evening with them and got to hear about their trip to the Buenos Aires temple to be sealed for eternity. They told us of the hard times they had been through in the recent years, but how the church has been a blessing for them. They told us how the past year they had made a 16-hour car ride, every month, to attend the temple in Buenos Aires. Sometimes they would drive straight through the night just to make it. That really put things into perspective for us. We were lucky to make it to the temple as often as they did and we only live 40 minutes away.
Perhaps the best thing we could have heard from them was that they are still active in the church. Paula is a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency and David is the Elder's Quorum President.
We had so much fun talking to them about everything, from the church to politics, to crock-pots. Apparently crock-pots haven't made it down to Argentina yet. They were really excited when we told them just what a crock-pot could do. The guys thought it was the best invention ever, and could replace a wife...
Paula's brother and wife on the left, Paula, David and kids on the right
Paula and David with their son
BAHIA BLANCA
Anyone that has served in Bahia Blanca during the past ten years has tasted of the goodness of Fleur de Lis, the most popular pastry shop in the city. Every pastry is soooo good!! They have creme-filled pastries, media lunas and everyone's favorite: dulce de leche-filled pastries. Mmmmm mmmmmm! We got a dozen and a half of these babies for the road....sooo good!
ON THE ROAD AGAIN...BACK TO BUENOS AIRES
As you can see from the rest of the pictures the Buenos Aires province is pretty flat...lots of farms and cattle ranches, but very pretty.
Next post will be our final installment: Buenos Aires
