The spot where South America was dedicated for the preaching of the Gospel...

Hermano Nestor...on far right, the Church Historian for this area, took the Sr. Missionary couples to the spot in the center of Buenos Aires where "South America was dedicated for the preaching of the Gospel by Apostle Melvin J. Ballard on December 25, 1925."

It is in the Palermo Park which is just two blocks from our apartment.More later...We leave in 1 hour for church, Walt is ready and cooking breakfast and I've got to hurry and shower.

I "revised" my Saturday's blogging and added more commentary...Chau.

A Thursday in Buenos Aires...

We remember our first week in this crazy big city

so had Elder y Hna. Fuqua--Charles and Eileen--over for dinner on their third day here.

They have lived most of their life in Oklahoma City and western Oklahoma, until they retired from their education careers in administration and teaching. Then they moved to Wellsville, Utah, to be near their 5 sons and families.

They replace Elder y Hna. Chalmers over PEF for the area. That day in the office Elder Petersen sorted lists of information about hospitals and doctors

for the three different countries--Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay,

to see if they are still accurate for the 14 different missions.

Ready to leave the office earlier than usual to go buy the fixin's for dinner. When we got into Jumbo's I changed my menu and decided to cook pork chops for the new missionary couple who arrived Tuesday. After all it was Thursday, and I had forgotten that I always used to cook pork chops that day. Didn't have any other "fixed meal on a certain day" except for Thursday. Don't remember when that tradition began.

I'm lucky that my Christmas gift to Walt--the computer pull case I have, was too small for Walt's computer, and I get to "pull" my planner and things back and forth to the office with it.

The talk is over...all's right with the world...

Yes,the Talk is over on "The Long-Term Benefits of Family Home Evening"! The black was my typing in English; the red was the Spanish translation.

A relieved and happy Hna. Petersen. There were many words I mispronounced, but Walt was a good sport and said everyone got the message and felt the spirit.

The potatoes, carrots, and celery are ready to be added to the roast an hour before it is done.

The roast has been seared and browned...

...and is now roasting in the oven.

The dough for the rolls, and cinnamon rolls is rising in the sunshine from the patio window.
The clothes from yesterday's wash that didn't fit on our 6-line, short strand clothes line in the laundry cove, are drying in the same sun coming in from the patio windows.

Walt has taken off his suit jacket and tie and is working on the family home evening lesson for the 7 Sr. Missionary couples at our home tomorrow. "The Law of the Harvest" or how we can never get ahead of the Lord in how he blesses us. It will be based on "for every law there is a blessing predicated" or however the scripture goes. He's been mulling it in his mind for quite a while. I'm looking forward to it. As one of our Sister missionaries at a mission resunion said: "It's so wonderful to hear doctrine from my mission president again." Walt has been given a gift to teach doctrine pure and refined. [He will be uncomfortable with my praising him again. So be it.]

We can see the photos of our children and grandchildren and my Mom & Dad.

And the train is going by our corner of Buenos Airea ...

Even though my back is still hurting -- Yes! All's right with the world right now!!!

I have read my Chapter in the Book of Mormon while waiting for each photo to upload. In this chapter I wrote on "Good scriptures for Aimee's missionary letters" which I keep a record of just before the Book of Mormon cover page: Helaman 14: 8; 17.

Hope your Sabbath Day is right with the world, too.

What are we doing on a sunny August* day in Buenos Aires, Argentina?

*Remember, August below the equator is equivalent to February above the Equator.

Photos: 1. I'm practicing pronouncing Spanish correctly.

2. Walt translating --he's so good!!

3. Parts of many days and nights at the laptop pulling together all the info into a coherent (I hope) message about the long-term benefits of Family Home Evening. Yes, that's the office chair that gives pain relief for my back off and on during the night.

What we're doing on this sunny day in Buenos Aires, Argentina:

Well, when it's the day before I have to give a talk in Spanish, Walt has been translating the talk from the one I've worked on several days typing in English.

Thanks to all who sent comments for me to compile along with my other research into "Family Home Evening - and it's Long-Term Benefits."

And now I'll be practicing the correct pronounciation--also with my hubby's sweet help.

And he's been doing dishes since my back has gotten worse, along with vacuuming (didn't get a photo of that before he was finished this morning.

I'll share some hightlights of the talk later tomorrow. I'd appreciate your prayers between 11:15 a.m. and noon our time, during our Sacrament Meeting. That would be 8:15 to 9:00 Utah/Idaho time. I think I should feel more nervous than I am right now.

Now, no more stalling by taking time out to blog, and back to my practicing.

Walt just came in and said: "I think you're avoideing your talk."

Bye....

Maybe I can pull a "Walt Petersen" and say I'm too sick to go to Church tomorrow.

A Museum outing, plus preparing talk on assigned topic "Long-term benefits of Family Home Evening"...

The area office was closed Monday, August 17, for the Argentine national holiday honoring the day their liberator hero, San Martin, died. So the Sr. Missionaries had an outing to LaPlata (about 1 1/2 hrs from Buenos Aires). We went to the Museum of Natural Science.

"It's the best Natural Science Museum I've ever been to," Walt told our daughter Janie on the phone that night.

I love flamingoes, so had to get a photo of that display.

And I thought the grandkids would like the one of us by the dinosaur bone replicas.

Six of our group of 13 (one of the wives was not feeling well and stayed at her apartment) went over to see the beautiful Cathedral after we had an outdoor parrilla asado by the museum (outdoor bar-b-que). The rest of us had already been to the Cathedral, which I had a blog and photos about in January.

I'm working on a talk for Sacrament Meeting for Sunday, August 23, in our Palermo Barrio. I have received several comments about the long-term benefits of family home evening from family and friends. If you have a comment you'd like to share, just add it to the comments for this post.

Walt's translating my first draft from English to Spanish.

I've been having some back pain. It was being controlled with IBU Profen, and when that stopped working about February, Walt started me on Diclofinaco, which did wonders. However, from a blood test in April it revealed that the Diclofinaco was affecting my kidneys, which can be a side effect. So since I had to stop that nothing has really controlled the pain, and I spend most of the night trying to sleep sitting up on the couch. Walt and Brian have put me on a muscle relaxant 4x a day, along with 1 Tylenol.

We are praying that we can finish the last 7 months of this 18-mo mission. I've always dreaded back surgery because it seems so many who have it are no better, and sometimes worse.

Yes, I've had a priesthood blessing, and we are hoping for the best outcome.

Dr. Petersen is such a help to the mission presidents, mission presidents' wives, and the missionaries here in helping them with their medical concerns. I hope we can stay till our time is completed.

His Spanish is so good that he is a blessing to the Spanish-only speaking missionaries, presidents and wives here. (And he will be upset with me for saying how good he is. But it is so true!)

Have a good day.

We like our little corner of Buenos Aires...

Here is the sunset tonight from our fourth floor apartment window. We like our little corner of Buenos Aires.
Our Argentina book says "The Querandi Indians were the inhabitants of Buenos Aires when, in 1536, the Spanish settler Pedro de Mendoza founded the city under the name of "The City of Our Lady of the Good Winds...
"In 1807 the city underwent an invasion by English troops who were expelled by the ragged city militia...
"This heroic deed encouraged the local inhabitants and on May 25, 1810, an Open Assembly was held.
"In 1853 the Argentina National Constitution was proclaimed, laying the foundations for the present-day Argentina...
The capital city ended up being called "Good Winds" or in Spanish "Buenos Aires."
With the city sounds of cars, taxis (39,000 of them the book says), trains, and the subway transporting the 13,000,000 people hither and yon, we think Burley is going to seem extremely quiet when we return in 7 months.
Walt's favorite times are when we can get out into the countryside and see the country folk.
I've had a nice day in our apartment because Walt had me not go into the office to see if I could help rest my back. One of the many city train tracks is 100 meters from our 4th floor, and the 6-box- car trains go by to and from the center of the city every 10-15 minutes. We can distinctly see the outline of passengers sitting--or standing when it's full.

My query: "Where is everyone going?"

Walt helps keep the missionaries healthy so they can teach everyone where they would want to go to be with their families for eternity.

The Mantle of the Priesthood is...

Walt did great as usual when he gives a talk! The Bishop couldn't thank him enough, many others were clammoring around him to tell him what a good talk it was. One little man said: "Your talk was very interesting, but you needed to put your mouth closer to the microphone. It was hard to hear you."

To which I said to Walt: "See, I'm not the only one."

Here's a few highlights:

"We don't really know what the mantle of the priesthood is, we just know what it does.

The keys of the priesthood authorize; the mantle of the priesthood qualifies and facilitates the use of the keys.

Mantle of a Bishop:

A bishop is over five main areas

1)The Presiding High Priest of the Ward

2) President of the Aaronic Priesthood

3) President of the Priests Quorum

4) Common Judge in Israel of his ward members

5) Custodian of the Funds

He needs a mantle to be able to do all that.

Mantle of the Prophet:

I'll look up the exact quote from the April 2008 General Conference that Elder Jeffrey Holland said about "seeing the mantle of the Prophet descend upon President Thomas S. Monson in that Conference."

Mantle of auxiliary presidents:

A mantle to help them in their calling also comes through the mantle of the Priesthood to the following:

1) Primary Presidents

2) Young Women Presidents

3) Relief Society Presidents

4) Sunday School Presidents

5) Other presidents...

Mantle of Fathers and Mothers:

Fathers and mothers also have a mantle to help them in their eternal calling that they are never released from.

The Mantle of the Priesthood

Wish I'd taken some photos of Walt preparing for the talk he will give later today in Sacrament Meeting. But I'll try to browse up a photo or two of him...what's a blog without a couple of photos?!

[Found one of us at FHE last Monday at Leckie's when we had that outstanding talk given at the 165th Martyrdom Commemoration at Carthage. I fowarded a copy to many of you. Let me know if you didn't get it and would like to have it.]

[Two more photos: Walt with Elders Digiovanni and Turnbow, from Texas and Sandy, Utah, whom we had over for lunch on Tuesday. One of us in the hall at area office this week. The date on my camera got out of sync for that one as it sometimes does.]

Walt was assigned this topic about three weeks ago: "The Mantle of the Priesthood." He's been pondering it and last Sunday he started looking up information.

The word "mantle" is not found in the Topical Guide or Bible Dictionary--either English or Spanish.

So he pulled up some of the Brethren's talks about it, plus wrote down some of his observations and experiences.

[Note: You can find LDS information faster on a Goodle Search than through the ldschurch.org.]

So every night this week when we got home from the area office, he worked very late on his talk. By Thursday he had a draft written out.

(Those who have heard him speak during his six years as a bishop, then 9 1/2 years as a stake president, plus before and since, including many funerals, know that he never reads a talk. I think most people thought he just stood up and it flowed from him. Yes, it does flow from him, but he pays theprice and puts in much preparation on each talk...so that "in the very hour it is given him what to say...")

I got the first draft typed Thursday just before we six Sr. Missionary couples left the area office at 4:30 to attend the six o'clock temple session in English, which is every first Thursday.

He handed me the second draft Friday afternoon, so it was typed. Now mind you, I type fast, but this is typing in a foreign language I barely understand.

Saturday he revised and was getting ready for what I thought was a 3rd draft.

For three hours in the afternoon we took time out to go to Florida Street--on the subway-- which is a main shopping area of the city. We were assigned to buy the birthday gift for Elder Barton's birthday (the other six couples help pay for it), and his wife told us he wanted a book about Buenos Aires that we knew would be at a book store there. In fact, we ended with a fun serendipity going there with the Bartons--that will be another blog.

After that we did our grocery shopping...so we were back home by 8pm.

I cooked a pizza for supper, then I finished up some more washing and hanging clothes, then was starting to make the dessert that I was to take to Sunday dinner with the Allreds.

At 10:17, I was just putting the "mold" together for the box cheesecake, when Walt comes out and says with a sheepish grin:

"I just rewrote my talk."

"Okay, you finish whipping up this dessert and I'll go type it," I replied.

"No, it's too late and I don't think you can read it," he said.

He was right on both counts... but I finished it at 11:14 with a lot of half typed words or outright blank lines for him to fill in.

By midnight I had his second draft typed, with a lot of revisions added, and whole paragraphs taken out. (He's working on it now and I have 57 minutes to shower and be ready to leave.)

I'll report later today how his talk comes out.

"I'm sick," he just came in and told me, adding, "I don't think I can go to Church today."

Don't be alarmed. This is what I've heard for 48 years before every talk he's scheduled to give.

New Mission Presidents' Seminar

'Today you are You, that is truer than true.

There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

--Dr. Seuss

This is how Sister Bowen, the wife of our Area President, summarized her excellent teaching to the four new mission presidents' wives today as she reminded them they were called for their unique talents She asked them not to try to compare themselves with their predecessors (?sp) or anyone else. She shared verses 3-6, 9, 11-13 of Doctrine & Covenants 31.

Dr. Petersen was invited to talk with the new mission presidents' wives about how they take care of the medical needs of the missionaries.

More later...I'm going crazy trying to create this blog without my mouse. My new electronic one the kids sent me for my birthday is not working, and I guess I didn't get my old one in the computer case when we left the office just before 9pm, after getting their at 4:30 this afternoon after our day downtown at the Hilton Hotel for the Seminar.

I'm rather weary from being up an hour or so in the middle of each night, having to sit to relieve the back pain. Yes, my Mom is right "Getting old isn't for wimps." But I think I'm pretty wimpy.

The photo of us is inside the lobby. The gaucho painting is one at the hotel that we really liked.

Elder Petersen with the Elders at The Argentine National Rural Agriculture Fair...

Walt did something with the guys Saturday. By his choice he has only done a handful of things that does not include his wife and/or children. A couple of times he helped fly in some friends to the Root Ranch in Idaho's Primitive Area to go elk hunting. He did the first VIP Scout Whitewater rafting trip down the Middlefork of the Salmon River with Gerald Budge, D. Taylor, Larry Hansen, Cloyd Taylor, and other friends in July 1969. That's where they were when Armstrong landed on the moon for the first time.
(After that he took each son and daughter, and 2x me, for a one-on-one whitewater rafting trip. Yes, they're all river rats! I'm just a river mouse.)
Yesterday, Elder Allred invited each of the seven area missionaries to walk over to the Fair at the big Exposition grounds..about 7 or 8 blocks from our apartment.
It is the "129th National Rural Argentine Agricultural Fair," so I guess it started back in 1880. This one goes from the middle of July and ends Aug. 4.
Since my back isn't doing well, I deferred all the walking. None of the other wives went, either. Four of the seven Elders joined in this adventure.
So it was Elders Allred, Leckie, Wall, and Petersen, aka Gary, Richard, Frank, and Walt.
It's a good thing I took a photo of Walt & Gary as they were leaving our apt because I'd left the camera card in the laptop from my last downloading, so he would have gotten there and not been able to take any photos.
Here are 11 of the 18 photos he took. I'll have to add more description when he finishes working on his assigned talk for next Sunday, having been given the topic "The Mantle of the Priesthood."
Here's his addition: They saw turkeys, pheasants, chickens, peacocks, pigeons, rabbits, goats, sheep, llamas, horses, cows, farm machinery, and lots of people.
The four each had a choripan (?sp) for lunch.
He was only gone 3 hours...during which time I washed and hung clothes on the line (no dryers for missionaries), mixed bread, and was mopping the wood floor with some "shiner" stuff when he got home.
Walt said there wasn't a line when they got there in the morning. The entrance fee is 15 pesos, which is between $4 and $5 U.S. dollars.
This morning on the way home from Church at noon, the line to get in was 4-5 blocks long...3-4 abreast! We surmised this is the day a lot of Dad's are off work to take their families. Too bad they had to do it on the Sabbath Day.