Halloween Vs. Day of the Dead

In Argentina Halloween is not celebrated so no doorbell ringing to the hundredths of times when you must walk through the house to open the door to pass out candy and right as you are about to do something else the door- bell rings again and again and again so you get nothing done but I do miss seeing all the cute little kids with their cute costumes, because I totally love how adorable they look. 

As a replacement, in some parts of the world we get a day off, yes! a holiday dedicated to  the Dead! I like the fact that people do genealogy and remember the dead during this time. This is the time when families get together and buy flowers to decorate the tombs at the cemeteries and hold family dinners to pay tribute to those who have passed. 

Today I want to pay tribute to my grandmother Hilda. 

There is nothing written about my grandmother Hilda thus far, nor have I found any letters, notes, or journals written by her; but I do have four important documents that belong to my grandmother: a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, a baptism certificate and a death certificate. I am going to use these four documents to tell about her life. 

From her birth certificate,I learned that on May 29, 1924 a special little girl was born to Antonia Alvarenga in a small dusty town of Teotepeque, El Salvador. This baby was named HIlda and carried her mother’s last name of Alvarenga because her father, Fidel Melara, lived in another town and didn’t want to continue his relationship with Antonia. This new baby was Antonia's second daughter, and Fidel her second husband. Her first husband had died leaving her almost destitute. Although Antonia needed the support from Fidel, she was too submissive and never complained to him for his lack of child support and interest in their daughter Hilda. 

That was not the ideal situation for my grandmother who never got to know her father up until age 30 when she had children of her own. It must have been hard to have felt rejected as a daughter. 

From my grandmother’s marriage certificate,I learned that in the year 1939,

at the tender age of 15, in the City of San Salvador, Hilda Alvarenga was married to

Carlos Henriquez. This was Carlos’ second marriage. They started a family right

away, and by November 11, 1952, my grandmother had given birth to eight

children in only twelve years. I can’t think of too many 27 year olds who can manage a household of that many children. The first born was my mom Gloria, then came Edgardo, who died at six month of age from croup cough; then Dina, Silvia, Carlos, Norma, Julio, and Tony. Her children were always clean, and well groomed. My mom remembers, “We were never allowed to swear. We had to use good manners and be polite.” Mama Hilda used to say:” You don’t need to be wealthy to have class.” 

In 1959, two LDS missionaries knocked on my grandmother’s door. This blessing couldn’t have come to a family who was ready to hear the message of the restored gospel.  Her daughters: Silvia and Dina were baptized that same year followed by Norma and my grandmother who were baptized in 1960, the year I was born, according to the baptism certificate. Shortly after my grandmother was baptized a member of the church she was called to be the Branch Relief Society President. In a Conference talk given by her daughter Silvia H. Allred she said the following: 

“My mother was a resent convert to the Church when she was called to be the Relief Society president in our small branch in San Salvador. She told her branch president that she was inexperienced, unprepared and inadequate. She was in her thirties, had very little formal education and her whole life had been devoted to the care of her family of seven children, but the branch president called her anyway. I watched my mother

rise to the occasion. While serving, she learned leadership skills and developed new

gifts such as teaching, public speaking and planning and organizing meetings,

activities, and service projects. She influenced the women in the branch. She served

them and taught them to serve one another. The sisters loved and respected her. She

helped other women to discover, use and develop gifts and talents. She helped them

become builders of the kingdom and of strong spiritual families. She stayed faithful

to the Temple covenants she made. When she passed away, she was at peace with

her maker. A sister who served with her as her counselor in the Relief Society

wrote me a letter years later. “Your mother was the person who taught me the

way to become what I am now. From her, I learned charity, kindness, honesty and

responsibility in our callings. She was my mentor and my example. I am now 80

years old but have stayed faithful to the savior and his gospel. I have served a

mission and the Lord has blessed me greatly.” My grandmother Hilda is featured on “Daughters in My Kingdom” publication for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pgs. 91-92. 

My grandmother’s life was full of wonderful memories with friends and family

on one hand but also a lot of turmoil in her personal life, she ended up as a single mother when she and Carlos separated and had to do it all on her own. I can only imagine having to support a large family must have been stressful. I vividly remember how uptight she was most of the time. She only gave you one look and you knew what to do. I can almost blame all that stress as the cause of her cancer.

Despite her illness and great disappointments as the prognosis didn’t look good, Grandma Hilda was a strong woman who carried herself with dignity, probably dying of loneliness inside but keeping her spirits up the best way she knew how. I went to visit her with my family the Christmas of 1989 and that was the last time I saw her. 

According to her death certificate, my grandmother Hilda died two months later at age 65 from ovarian cancer. My grandmother Hilda left a remarkable legacy to her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and theirs of a woman who had a strong testimony of the Church and did her best in anything she got involved in. She was a wonderful daughter, wife, mother, sister and friend. My grandmother exemplified faith, virtue, patience, knowledge, diligence, humility, kindness and charity. Tears moisten the faces of many as they expressed feelings of love and gratitude toward her when they knew of her passing. My grandma used to say: “There are only three things you need to do. One: learn the will of the Lord. Two: Keep His commandments and Three: Obey.” Her example has blessed me and my family. 

I imagine how proud my grandmother must be feeling today to see so many of her posterity doing well not only economically but spiritually. When I was getting married in the Salt Lake Temple, the sealer was inspired to say that many spirits were there and I felt strongly that my grandmother was there as a witness too. She wanted her children and grandchildren to be successful and to do what is right and to learn from other people’s mistakes. She valued education, hard work, and kindness. She was generous even at the time when she had very little to offer. Grandma Hilda loved to serve others, especially poor women who had nowhere to go like the woman who ironed her clothes. Many lessons were learned in her humble home but the biggest lesson of all is that she endured to the end! 

Con amor,

Vero

I love to dress up

They say that oposites attract. Daniel and I could not be more different when it comes to dressing up for Halloween, carnival or a mascaraed party. He can’t do it because it’s not him. It’s not part of his DNA so you would never find Daniel caught dead wearing a costume. 

I, on the other hand, love dressing up. I am a huge fan of Halloween parties. I love the idea of having one day when we all get to put on a costume and pretend to be something or someone else – it’s an escape from our everyday routine lives when we can get creative and transform ourselves into a totally different being.  So let your hair down – put on your party persona and go get yourself a costume to wear for Halloween.

I like it when adults wear a fun costume, it sets the example for the kids that growing up doesn’t mean you have to grow boring or stuffy! It also helps our kids feel more confident that they can dress up and be silly and enjoy themselves too. It also shows kids that using their imagination is a good thing!

It’s exciting to take on a new persona for a day. And who doesn’t want to be a powerful superhero or a character from Star Wars or a Disney Princess for a day?! I like being a cat. 

Wearing costumes is also a way to let people get to know you a little better by allowing them to see another side of you. There have been times when someone I thought was shy put on the most hilarious costume and it totally let me see another side to their personality that I might otherwise never have gotten to know.

Wearing costumes also creates memories. When I think back at past Halloweens I always remember them by the fun costumes I wore and others wore. You never forget the good or the bad costumes from the past.

Wearing costumes is a chance to get creative. It is so much fun to see the creative ideas people come up with for their costumes each year. And there are always those especially creative people that find a way to tie in the current events going on in the world to make their costumes even more relevant and fun to talk about. I love seeing people’s creativity come out. And keep in mind that often the best costumes are the ones that didn’t cost a lot of money – it’s all about the creativity, not the amount of money spent.

Wearing costumes is just plain fun It lets us be something or someone else for a day and it gives us an escape where we can set aside any insecurity we might be holding onto and be whoever we want to be for a little while. It is straight up awesome! By some miracle, I got Daniel to wear an indigenous outfit for a photo and that was it. He wore it for maybe two minutes. 

Happy Halloween everyone!

Con amor,

Vero

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin

You get what you go for!

For the past three weeks Daniel and I have been getting our batteries charged; first by attending General Conference the first week in October and from October 21st to October 25th we attended the Leadership Seminar for Mission Presidents serving in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in the breathtaking Perito Moreno, the largest glacier in the world so the setting couldn’t have been more incredible! Unfortunately, those in Chile couldn’t attend. If you have not heard, Chile is under political turmoil so much that the Mission Presidents stayed in Chile and sadly all missionaries have been inside their homes. We are keeping them in our prayers. 

One thing that stands out in my mind was a presentation by Elder Nielson in charge of the Missionary department of the whole Church. He said: “You get what you go for!”

Have you ever thought about that? 

Deep within each of us lies talents, abilities, and powers that go so far beyond anything we could begin to imagine. Too often in life we sell ourselves short thinking “I can’t” or “I am not capable of…” or “I am afraid to try in case I fail”. 

We hide our true potential behind a mask of fear and insecurity, never coming to appreciate all that we are meant to be. We become our own worst stumbling blocks when it comes to discovering everything that we are truly capable of, and coming to recognize the amazing God-given talents we possess. Missionaries have the chance to discover who they are and their potential as they are experiencing their mission. No other group of people in the world have this grand opportunity.

If we would believe that is true, then have the curiosity to discover for ourselves what those talents might be, and then actually put them to use, we would have the power to accomplish things far beyond what we can imagine today.

There are powers inside of you which, if you could discover and use, would make of you everything you ever dreamed or imagined you could become.” – Orison Swett Marden

I believe that is true with all my heart. I have seen it manifest in people’s lives time and time again. So much so that I often find myself wanting to grab others and yell “You have no idea how amazing you actually are!” followed by “So start figuring it out!”

As you set out on the journey to figure out what greatness lies within you, keep in mind that talents come in all different shapes and sizes. Each of us have different talents, but we were given those differing talents to be instruments in the Lord’s hands.

I believe that nothing happens by coincidence. I believe God had purpose in giving each of us exactly the talents that He gave and as we develop them and use them we will begin to more clearly recognize what that reason was, so don’t let yourself fall into the trap of ranking which talent is better than someone else’s. 

There isn’t a rank to talent, they are different – not better or worse than.  Every talent matters equally, even if some talents aren’t as visibly seen. Sure, talents in art or music are much easier to see and receive public praise, but they are no more important than the talent of being a good friend, or being a good listener or a good organizer and such. Every talent matters.

You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us do. “The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious work environment, orderly homes, family memories and even laughter.” Marcia Nielson

What you create doesn’t have to be perfect… Don’t let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside. Our missionaries need to have the confidence to know that the Lord is on their side. “As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

It is the combination of each of our individual talents that collectively improve the world around us. Sister Neilson told us in a special meeting we had with only women: “My suggestion for today is that you get curious about the talents that lie within you that you still haven’t discovered. Try all kinds of new things that you never had the courage to try before. Give them a chance to come out of you. If you never try them you will never find out if they are there. And when you discover new talents, which I guarantee you will do, grow them until they shine like crazy! Just never stop looking for more of them to still be inside of you just waiting to be discovered” She felt homesick when she moved to New Zealand but as she prayed for comfort, she found new talents she didn’t know she had. 

On another subject, right after we came from Calafate, we took off to be in Uruguay where we just spent the weekend in Rocha visiting Daniel’s family and it was hilarious. Daniel’s sister was also visiting from Brazil. His brothers were non -stop telling so many funny stories of back when they were all living under the same roof. It is always good to visit family. 

We miss and love our family but feel that we are meant to be in the South America South Area now for a reason. On November 19th we will take a flight to Salt Lake for a much needed two week vacation.We will be staying in our apartment in City Creek and go back to Buenos Aires on Dec. 3^rd We want to rest and gear up some energy for what’s coming since  Argentina is also going through a crisis so no doubt that hard times are ahead for those people but somehow, we will continue moving forward trusting in the Lord. 

Con amor,

Vero

October is my favorite month!

In Argentina, today is Mother’s Day so at Church the speaker said: “Even though we celebrate Mother’s Day today, we should celebrate it every day.” It took me by surprised since I am used to celebrating Mother’s Day in May so Happy Mother’s Day to all who play the role of a mother and that includes future mothers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law, step-mothers, mothers who don’t or can’t have children of their own but who love children and provide mothering in one way or another, and single fathers who have to play the role of mother and father, and of course all those who have given birth – so basically I am saying to all–HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!! 

I have a younger sister who was a divorced single mother for many years.  I have watched her support her son as both the father and the mother through those years, and I know there are tremendous numbers of single moms out there who do that same thing.  Being a single parent is one of the most difficult things to do. I know because once upon a time I was one of them. Trying to handle your household by yourself and still give your children the attention they need and deserve is an insanely hard task.  It can be lonely and scary and overwhelming at times.  And anyone out there who does it deserves a huge recognition on Mother’s Day, whether they are a mom or a dad playing both roles of parents.  THANK YOU!

Being a mother and grandmother currently, is the biggest blessing in my life. I have had an amazing life thus far. I have accomplished amazing goals and I have traveled the world and met very important people – however, there is nothing in my life full of accomplishments that comes even close to being as important to me as the accomplishment of being a mother and grandmother. 

I know how blessed I am to be a mother and grandmother. I have many friends who for one reason or another were unable to have children of their own, which has helped me appreciate to an even greater level just how truly blessed I am to be a mother and now grandmother to twenty-two amazing grandchildren. I thank Heavenly Father every day for the ability I have been given to be their grandmother. I love being a mother, and I especially love being a grandmother. 

Having a wonderful mother of my own is the other biggest blessing in my life.  It would be impossible for me to express just how amazing my mother is. She is brilliant and talented and loving and kind.  She is dedicated and loyal and caring.  She loves the Lord and she lives her life in such a way as to show that to her daughters and grandchildren.  She has taught me so many things that have helped me to become the mother that I am today.  I love her and I am grateful every day that Heavenly Father allowed me to be born into her home with her as my mother. To my own mother, I say THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU!

My mother-in-law is every bit the amazing woman as my own mother.  I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have the mother-in-law that I do.  I married well because she came as part of that package!  To her I say THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU!

All of us have those special women in our lives whom have set an example for us, who have loved us, who have been there for us when we needed them, who have taught us, who have helped us, and who have impacted our lives for the better.  

Today is the day to tell them you love them. Today is the day to say THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU!  Take advantage of the opportunity to do so. To all my grandchildren I say THANK YOU for letting me be your mami Vero and I LOVE YOU with all my heart!

Con amor,

Vero

A place for everything

Let’s just say that today I felt a little bit like I was living in an episode of the TV Show “Hoarders: Buried Alive” and it was staring me as the hoarder.  We are talking stacks and stacks of boxes full of things that had been piling up the last 10 years.  I was unpacking box after box only to turn around and find duplicates of the same thing somewhere else It felt like such a waste to have carried the boxes over only to then find that same item here in the apartment. If I had I just taken the time to organize myself prior to the move I would have been able to avoid loading a good majority of the boxes at all!  But as typically happens, I would have piles of items I needed to go through over the years and I would think to myself “I will get to that later”….yeah, well, apparently 10 years later!  

So, after a grueling 24 hours of opening boxes I should tell you that I have finally learned a valuable lesson – Keep your home clean and organized always! Throw things away that are not important to keep! If something is important enough to keep then file it away or organize it in plastic bins and label them so that everything in your house has a place.  If something is worn out, throw it away! Don’t be a hoarder.  Because if you are then one day when you have to move to a new home you will seriously regret it more than you can ever imagine.  So save yourself the pain and suffering by simply getting organized now and then staying organized as you move forward.

It is an amazing feeling to be organized.  As much work as this move is for us I am in awe of how it feels as we are starting to get through the boxes and piles and getting the trash thrown out and finding a proper place for the things that are important to keep.  As each box is unpacked and sorted through and put into its proper place it is like a huge weight coming off my shoulders. I can only imagine how good it will feel when the last box is finally emptied and everything will be in its place. Yay! 

Today’s advice:  Organize your life before you move!  Oh no, how I wish I would have done just that!  I wish I would have had the time to organize my life before I had to move into a new home.  I have been caring so much stuff for the past 10 years and it is absolutely unbelievable the amount of “stuff” a person can accumulate over 10 years.  

Tomorrow is another long day that I am certain will reinforce the lesson of the need to keep an organized home, so learn from my mistake and go clean and organize your homes this week… find a place for everything and put everything in its place!

Con amor,

Vero

The Shipment came in

Friday morning is here! We are officially starting to move-in all our stuff into our small apartment. The awaited shipment finally came in! 

I can’t believe the day has finally come!  It feels like we have been living out of suitcases for over five months.  Between two assignments and vacation in July going to Salt Lake, it has been a long process getting settled but it is so exciting to finally see it start to come together now. 

For the last five months, we have been wearing the same clothes, eating out at various restaurants because our kitchen utensils had not arrived plus it was a good excuse not to have to cook. I used a plastic cup to roll the dough when making cookies because my roll pin was trapped in customs.  It has been a huge challenge for us so we are all anxious to start putting things away to make our new space feel like home. 

Daniel cancelled all his meetings today so he could be home to receive the shipment. He is busy tomorrow with meetings so I would have to do most of the unpacking myself but that is o.k. since we are given ten days to unpack and report anything that came broken. However, We need to hurry and get it all done with weekend because on Monday we are off to a seminar for a whole week. 

One big item we had purchased came broken and that was very disappointing. This was a nice 5 feet mahogany jewelry chest with nothing inside it but we forgot to leave the key and the guys at the customs had to break it open.  The next few days are going to be intense to get everything open before we leave on our trip in two days so we will be rolling up our sleeves and getting busy hauling boxes and unpacking the next few days. 

I will post after shots once we get all moved in later in a couple of weeks.  Have a great Saturday everyone!  The weather is beautiful today so go out and enjoy it. I must stay in. 

Con amor,

Vero

Rainy days

It has been raining for days in Buenos Aires since we got in last Sunday and it’s Thursday so our group of explorers decided not  to go out too far but just to walk to an Italian restaurant near where we live and shop. I didn’t think it was going to be raining that much so I took my jacket and forgot my umbrella which was a big mistake. Every single person that walked by me was carrying an umbrella. I hadn’t even walked for a block when my feet felt very wet but that didn’t stop us from going out to enjoy an afternoon. A rainy day didn’t stop us because Just because its stormy now doesn’t mean you aren’t headed for sunshine!

Now that I got back home, I am sitting in my couch wrapped up in a blanket and watching an amazing rainstorm through my window. The sky is black and the sound of the wind and rain is loud. Everything is wet. The streets, sidewalks and our balcony is all wet and I keep wondering how long will this rain last? 

Just like stormy days, Our lives are full of good days and bad ones, happy days and sad ones, easy days and hard ones.  As we go along our journey I think one of the most important things to remember is that no bad day lasts forever, and every sad day eventually comes to an end.  We will have sunny days without a cloud in our sky and we will have days where the thunder rolls around us with a deafening noise.  But no matter how harsh the rain storms that come are, there will come a point like is happening right now out my window – a point where the lightning stops and the thunder quiets and all the raindrops are slowly coming to a halt.  And when it is done it will always be followed by the welcome light of the sunshine as it rises in the sky and brightens everything in this world.

“Don’t confuse your path with your destination.  Just because it’s stormy now doesn’t mean that you aren’t headed for sunshine.”

So many people in the world get caught in the trap of forgetting that the storms they are facing right now are merely a section of the road they are traveling through and they lose sight of the fact that in no way is their current circumstance their final destination.  If they just keep moving forward, putting one foot in front of the other, they will eventually come to the next section of road that is surrounded by gorgeous flowers that were only able to grow because of a previous storm that had passed by them.

The sun will return and things will get brighter again….Not forever, but at least for a while before its time for the storm clouds to once again roll in and the lightning to spark across the sky, but that’s okay…because that is all part of the journey we go through in life…if you can imagine when lightning is shooting through the sky every few seconds followed by the constant cracking of thunder. 

 I have to say that there is something really magical about watching a storm like that.  Perhaps it’s the beauty of the lightning as it shoots out across a blackened sky, or perhaps it’s the contrast of the gently falling raindrops against the loud roaring of the thunder.  Either way, it is definitely magical and  perhaps going forward you might try skipping merrily through the stormy sections as it will help you pass through them more quickly, and when you hit the sunny spots try taking time to stop and look around to appreciate the beautiful flowers you are surrounded by and appreciating how wonderful the sunshine truly feels….recognize that without that last storm the flowers wouldn’t have bloomed and the rainbow wouldn’t display its incredibly colors in that amazing arch across the sky…then continue walking forward, better prepared and less afraid to dance through the next rainstorm ahead right into another bought of sunshine…

Con amor,

Vero

We are in it for the long Haul!

Can’t believe is our tenth wedding anniversary this year!

I can’t believe we’ve already made it ten years…or another way to look at it is 120 months…480 weeks…3,360 days…80,640 hours…4,838,400 minutes… or 290,304,000 seconds…and still counting…so what have I learned?

I’ve learned that marriage is full of ups and downs, hopefully more ups than downs.

To weather the down- times you need to be willing to try every single day to let the other person know you truly love and appreciate them, and you must be willing to talk to your spouse about everything. 

Share your hopes and dreams with each other. Share your concerns together, set goals together. Hold each other accountable. Communicate, communicate, communicate…and then communicate!

Be quick to say, “I’m sorry”and slow to dish out criticism. Please, please, please don’t ever start criticizing what your spouse does or does not do. Very lovingly, letting know your feelings.

Build each other up.You can’t be best friends with each other without trusting each other with your insecurities and weaknesses.

Have FUN together!!! PLAY…ALOT!  FLIRT! LAUGH!  And LOVE each other completely and without reservation.

Be completely loyal to one another, you must have absolute fidelity to your spouse. Simple as that!

And always be committed to making it work out.I’m grateful that we’ve made it 10 years, eternity to go, yay!

Con amor,

Vero

Aluminum or tin?

Aluminum or tin? What do you think when you hear those two words? 10 years of marriage of course! Aluminum or tin is the traditional 10 -year anniversary gift symbolizing preservation and longevity in marriage. Ten years ago, two middle age people said: Why not? Let’s do it! Just like the song: “Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, Let’s do it, let’s fall in love” 

Yes,means so much than just your wedding vows 

It is a daily effort, commitment and willingness 

To sacrifice yourself for your spouse 

To remember that when we experience bumps along the way

That is when we need to remember the promise we have made

Real love stories never have endings because the best thing to hold in life is each other. Though it hasn’t been easy to blend together two very different families, marriage has forced us to grow in ways we needed to but would have never chosen to. Tomorrow, we celebrate been married a whole decade and even as wonderful as our lives together have been thus far, I still think that thebest isstill yet to come.Like any two love birds, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but is has been a wonderful ride. 

Happy Anniversary to us!We hit another milestone and I couldn’t be more happy!!! 

Ten Glorious Days!

We left Buenos Aires on October 2^ndto be ready to attend General Conference on October 5-6 and for meetings the following week. It was a way for us to get our butteries charged and as always to see dear friends and family. 

In Spanish, there is a phrase: “De músico poeta y loco todos tenemos un poco” Which means that we are not all musicians or poets but we can all attempt to capture the beauty around us like song writers and poets do. Take a little time at the start of a new week to think back over the past week with the aid of your journal or calendar. What happened? What did you do and feel? What things did you noticed? Write a few lines of poetic review that gives that week a unique identity. You will notice that more happened than you realized and there were a lot of fun and nice good moments that were not as insignificant as you thought. 

I am going to attempt writing about my daily happening from October 2 to October 12, 2019.

 In a nut-shell this is what we did:

Ten Glorious days

On Wednesday, we took the red eye flight from Buenos Aires to Dallas 

And then going to Salt Lake on Thursday morning but this time we got upgraded to business

Small world, finding an old Bishop from Argentina also going on the same flight to Salt Lake. Arriving at the Salt Lake Airport to get our car and this time is an Armada

And then going to the apartment and to my hair appointment 

And later to see Zulma and Roberto Mazal in South Jordan and the kiddos in Farmington 

On Friday, getting our blood work done around noon so we were starving for Café Rio 

Going to the Zoo for Boo nights with Mandy and spencer at the Zoo and then to Ruth Diner 

Saturday morning session of General Conference and having lunch in the cafeteria

Meeting up with the Dames to watch the boys while Cristi and Brooks go to a wedding

Taking the three boys to the museum and order food at a restaurant to take to the room

Finish watching General Conference so Daniel can take the boys out to Mandy’s house

Mandy started to feel better from a 24 -hour flu 

Gong in the evening with Vale, her friend and mother to watch Women’s Conference 

Walked to a restaurant that was closed so ended up at Café Rio around 10:00 p.m. 

Woke up Sunday Morning to attend Music and spoken word and General Conference 

Attended a nice luncheon inside the Conference Center

Stayed at the apartment with Cristi and family to watch the afternoon session and said goodbye

Went to eat dinner with Jami and Andres and later to see Ann and Gregg in South Jordan 

On Monday went out to have lunch together with Cha, Lolita and Mandy who had been at Jury Duty

Then at night going to eat the traditional dinner with the Sloans

Tuesday was a full day packed with activities at Family Search for all the spouses

Met with the Garganos at the Cheese cake Factory for dinner 

Wednesday testimony meeting and inspired messages, a delicious lunch and entertainment

Daniel gives Mandy a beautiful blessing and then going out to eat again at the Cheese Cake F

Thursday is full of doctor appointment and other commitments
and then out to dinner in Draper with friends 

Friday got Insurance in place, Dentist appointments, Mammogram, the Bank, post office etc.

And meeting up with Paola to do temple sealing for Papa Meme to his parents

Off to Farmington to give Sariah her birthday gift and Danielito his paper towel donation 

Daniel gives blessings to Vale, Andres and Paola and Saying goodbye to the family 
Dinner at 10:00 p.m. to say good bye to Vale, Mandy and Spencer at the CCF

Saturday morning the cleaning ladies came at 6:45 a.m.and we got packed and ready to go

Took the flight to Dallas and the red eye flight back to Buenos Aires 

But this time it was delayed and no luck getting any upgrades. The plane was full

Sunday morning, home sweet home, at last and time to unpack

Today is Monday and guess what? today is a Holiday! Yay! 

Con amor,

Vero

Watching the debate

We are back! Today after we got home from a long flight, we turned on the TV to watch the debate between all the candidates running for President in Argentina. It was a great discussion and we enjoyed listening to their debate except for Fernandez who is from the Peronist Party. He had a sarcastic tone toward the current President that annoyed me. Fernandez is favored to win this next election and that is why the Argentine peso has been devaluating like crazy which will be a disaster for Argentina if he wins. 

As we draw closer to the upcoming elections later this month I am completely amazed and frankly disgusted by the number of negative campaign ads being shown on television toward the current President.  I typically enjoy letting the news play on TV while I get dinner ready in the evening so I can keep up with current events, but it’s gotten to the point that the last thing I want to do is turn on the television for fear that I will be listening to yet another negative ad.   

The number of negative ads against Macri alone is mind blowing.  Here is this nice, classy, professional man running for a second term but the amount of money spent from the opposing party that are throwing into negative ads against him is ridiculous. It is completely out of control.  It makes you wonder what they are so afraid of that they would spend that kind of money to try to keep him out of office…just the fact that they are so afraid of having him win alone makes me want to vote for him at this point if I could but frankly I would have voted for him anyway because he is trying so hard to help the Argentines.  

It was the same in the U.S. The one thing that turned me off the most was when someone trashed the competition in order to make a sale themselves.  I always felt that if your product was good that you didn’t need to do anything but show that product – if your product is good, there is no need to trash the competitor because greatness shows all by itself. My feeling was that if someone felt the need to trash a competitor that they must be doing it to hide a flaw or shortcoming in themselves or their own products, and it was always a huge turnoff for me.  

I feel the same way about political figures. Why trash the other candidate?  Why spend so much energy talking about anyone else?  Why not spend your time just showing who you are and showing what you stand for?  Wouldn’t that be a much better use of campaign dollars? Think how much more we would actually know about these candidates if they spent all that airtime telling us what they stand for and what they believe in and what they want to accomplish as our representatives rather than trashing each other!  

I have to say that I am really proud of the way Macri is handling the negative ads with such class. That takes a lot because despite the fact he knows they are not true, they still have to hurt.

There are many life lessons from all of this.  Don’t trash-talk other people. Don’t spend your time trying to prove your competitor is wrong, rather spend your energy making yourself the best person you can possibly be.  Doing that will scream without sound that you are the better person…no words necessary. 

No doubt this next election both in Argentina and in Uruguay are going to be intense and only hope for the best. 

Con amor,

Vero

When a day trip turns into two or more...

Well here is what has happened to my poor husband.  Daniel went for a day to Uruguay for meetings. He felt that he could wake up at 2:00 a.m. to get the earliest flight to spend a whole day in Montevideo before coming back to Buenos Aires late at night so he didn't need to spend a night unnecessarily at a Hotel and did not take any clothes with him but he was not aware of an Argentine Airlines' pilots' strike was happening so they kept him delaying his flight until it was cancelled and too late to look for other options. Don't you hate when they do that? Why couldn't they simply say the truth: "You are out of luck" from the start.

There are so many on the same boat that they could not confirm if he would get home the next day or any time soon. This is when you never want to be on stand by. Daniel had to spend the night and is trying to get home so we can get on another flight tomorrow to go to Utah. This time is not an Argentine Airline, thank goodness!

I don't usually post negative things ever but this strike is the most ridiculous thing. What a perfect way to lose customers but I guess they don't care, all they want is to bankrupt the hand that feeds them and that is too bad!

I can't wait to see my hubby safe and sound because there is a big storm coming our way and he is taking a boat over here and does not sail if it's too stormy. Crossing my fingers.

Con amor,
Vero