Rio Gallegos and El Calafate

So we have been in Rio Gallegos since Saturday. We had some awesome food down here! Lots of Asado which is pretty much a BBQ, but better. I got to meet one of Preston´s converts and his family. They were the nicest people I´ve ever met! I learned how much of an effect he had on the people down here and it just makes me feel so blessed to have him in my life. On Sunday, we got to speak again. It was very last second, but luckily for me I got to do it in English this time while Preston translated it. The people here have been so nice to us! We´ve been very lucky!

Sunday night we headed to El Calafate. We left Rio Gallegos at 8:30 and arrived there at about 12:30. We stayed in a Police Station. That´s right, except we were in the dormitories they allow police officers and a few other people. Preston knew someone in Gallegos that knew a member that worked for the police department in Calafate so we were so lucky and were able to stay there. It was only about an hour from the Glacier. So we went to the Glacier yesterday. It is so big! You don´t truly understand until you see it for yourself. It is sky blue! It was so amazing. You couldn´t help, but just want to stay and look at it for hours! The only downside to it was that it was pretty chilly! We have had so much fun down here! We are excited to go back to Buenos Aires though. We have a few more things we want to do including going to Preston´s first area, a fiesta for us on Friday, and a swap meet (a huge one from what I´ve heard). This next week is going to fly by!

Well we´re now getting packed so we are ready to go catch our plane this afternoon!

Dinner with the Villas, Lunch with the Camposanos/Dolores, and Rio Gallegos

So the past couple of days have been a lot of fun for us! It´s given us more of a chance to visit with people that Preston taught and spent a lot of time with.

We had dinner with the Villa family! It was so delicious!! We had what are called canelones. There were two kinds, one filled with meat and the other with spinich. After we had ice cream! It was by far the best ice cream I have ever had! The dad is an ice cream maker so it was homemade!

Lunch with the Camposanos/Dolores was so much fun! They are Peruvian so it was different than the food we´ve been eating. We had potatoes, chicken and rice! I was in heaven. There was also ceviche. It is a seafood dish so I of course didn´t eat it. Although Preston made me try a little piece and I ended up spitting it out into a napkin. Dad would have loved it! It´s cooked, but only by lemons so it´s unlike anything I´ve ever seen. Preston says it´s the best he has ever had!

                                                                               

I did not like this dish at all!

 

We are now in Rio Gallegos for the next couple of days! We arrived safely and where we are going to be staying is very nice.It is definately a different feel down here than in Villa Ballester! It is a lot more open, not so many houses and buildings. It´s a bit chiller down here than Ballester, but we have coats to keep us nice and warm. The Vega family that we are staying with are very nice and quite funny!

 

Our plans have changed for the vacation after we get back to Buenos Aires. We are no longer going to the Falls. We decided we didn´t want to take that long of a trip this time around. there are still people we are wanting to visit and we don´t have the time to do the falls trip and visit them. I guess we´ll just have to come down and visit again so that we can go see them. :)

We also want to tell Mike and Lauryn Happy Anniversary! We love you guys so much and hope you have a wonderful day together!

Rosario

Went to Rosario yesterday and it was such a fun, but long day! We got to see the Monument of the Flag in downtown Rosario.

It was a perfect day there! We did a lot of walking around the monument. We learned that it was built in the 1950´s and that there was a contest for what the monument would look like. By the monument is a huge river called El Río Paraná that boats use for traveling. There was an awesome bridge crossing it.

We went to the mission home where we took a package for Tanner. The Missionaries at the Mission Office were very nice. I also had the opportunity to talk to Tanner on the phone! He is doing great! He is loving his mission so much and he really likes his new mission companion! He is very grateful to be getting those things. I know exactly why he wants sour and spicy, there is none of that down here! It is all about the sweets! We also got a picture from the past Christmas Card for the mission that has a picture of all the missionaries that were in the mission. Below is also a picture with the missionaries that helped us.

After dropping off the package at the mission home we went and ate at  Miguel´s sister´s restaurant. It was such good food! I have ate some of the best food down here! On our way back we stopped at a city called San Nicolás. They built a new Catholic Church there about 10 years ago, that still isn´t done yet.  There were thousands of people at the church for Mass. It is the last big church they´ve built in Argentina. So that was our day yesterday, and we´ve spent today just relaxing a bit, which was much needed!

Adventure in Capital!

So today we went all around Capital. We took lots of pictures!! One of our favorite things we got to go in and take pictures was a Catholic Cathedral. It was so pretty! The architecture here is so amazing!

Most of the building here have been here since the 1700´s! We saw the Presidential Palace. Instead of a white house, it´s a pink house. :) We saw La Bombonera, It is the stadium of a soccer club called Boca, and it holds 40,000 people! There is a place designated for ¨the crazies¨and it is said to be one of the loudest stadiums in Argentina! It was way cool. We got to go inside and look at the stadium and then look at a museum they have completely dedicated to Boca!

 After the stadium we went to a place where all of the buildings are bright, fun colors called Caminito. It was so pretty. We also took a picture with a bridge that is famous down here. It was a very fun day!

 Since about four it has been raining and hasn´t stopped yet. I thought we had escaped the rain, but instead we brought it with us. The traffic to get out of Capital is horrible! I can honestly say that it is as bad, maybe even worse, than L.A. Traffic during rush hour! Luckily tomorrow has a lot of fun in store for us! We are going to Rosario! It was earlier than we originally planned, but it is going to be so much better. Tomorrow is kind of like Flag Day for Argentina and Rosario is like the center for everything! We are going to go to a fair and do some shopping! Ah I´m so excited I can´t wait!!! That´s all for today! Hope all is going well with everyone!

Day Two of Argentina

After an exhausting first day of getting unpacked, sight seeing, eating delicious pizza for dinner, a Sunday was just what we needed.

So since today is Sunday we of course went to church. We had the great opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting. It was the chance of a life time, especially for me. I got to bear my testimony on Missionary Work in Español! According to everyone that talked to me and Preston said I did perfect at reading it. It was the most amazing experience that I´ve had to be able to speak spanish in Argentina and to listen to Preston bear his testimony in Spanish as well. He sounds even more amazing than I´ve ever heard his sound! I guess it has something to do with that he´s done nothing, but speak spanish to people the past day and a half. :) So after Sacrament Meeting we went to the other two meetings. I also had the chance to try and sing Hymns in spanish as well. It was not easy, but at least I knew what song I was suppose to be singing! After church we had some amazing pasta and got to take a Sunday nap. We are now going to have some mate and do some sight seeing in Capital! That is all for now! We are having the time of our lives down here and I have the feeling that it is going to go by way too fast!

We´re Here!

So we officially arrived in Argentina today! After the long plane ride with very little sleep, paying for something we weren´t aware of to get into the country, being put in the wrong terminal so we couldn´t find our ride, but all was settled and we are now at home for the next couple of weeks. We are so grateful to have such amazing people to stay with! Miguel and Natalia are some of the most amazing people I´ve met. I know we have nothing to worry about with them around. We are now just going to sit back and relax for the rest of the day and then tomorrow we will be going to church and will be speaking! (Yes it will be in spanish as well!) It will be such a great experience for me and I know Preston is loving every moment of this trip so far, he gets to speak spanish the way he likes too. :) We´ll be keeping everyone updated about how our trip is going, so be sure to read our blog!

Tomorrow!

It's official, we leave tomorrow at 9:40 A.M. for Argentina! We never thought this day would come! We are so excited to see Miguel & Natalia on Saturday and I am so excited to get to see Preston's mission and the people that he grew to love so much in those two years that he was there. We are also going back two years to the date that he left! How crazy is that?! We have still not packed, but that will all be settled tonight. We are still planning on running regularly down there and are looking to eat some amazing food while we're at it!

ARGENTINA HERE WE COME!!!

One Week!

We officially have one week before we are on the plane headed to Argentina! We are so excited to get down there and see his mission, and for me to meet everyone even though I will have no idea what they are saying. :) I am going to brace everything though! This is a once in a life time trip for us and we can't wait to make it. We are looking forward to seeing everything. :) Ready or not Argentina here we come!!!

Run, Preston and Katie, Run!

We ran in our first 5K on Saturday at Thanksgiving Point. After waking up to about 3 inches of snow, I had no idea what the day was going to hold for us. We got to Thanksgiving Point and all the snow was gone and it turned out to be a beautiful day! We both finished in the top 100 out of about 500 people! I took 3rd out of 33 in my age group so I got a sweet little trophy, Preston took 9th in his, and we also go really cool medals for finishing. It was such an amazing feeling! We are starting to train for a half marathon in July and our ultimate goal a full marathon in September! We are so excited!! :)