We were a little fearful of Buenos Aires because so many people expressed their concerns for us being in the big city. I don't know if this is foolishness or trust but while we have been in South America I have yet to feel the fear I have felt driving through the big cities of the USA....Detroit especially. Buenos Aires was no exception.
Some missionary friends of ours serving over there told us they would meet us at the port about an hour after our ferry arrived. After waiting for a couple hourse we proceeded to plan B...head out on our own to the freeway. We were amazed at how easy it was to get to the freeway. And found it harder to find the Christian bookstore in Montevideo, Uruguay. :-
The part of the city along the port was quite pretty and the American restaurants were tempting but we had to get of of town...so we ate at McDonalds about 45 mins out of the city. That was were the other missionary family caught up with us and we followed them the rest of the way.
About an hour out of our destination we were told to pull over at a check point. Scott was told that our tow hitch without a trailer was illegal. They expected that Scott would pay them a bribe, I mean a fine. But when he didn't follow their lead they just let us go.
Mar del Plata is a pretty city. During peak season their numbers rival Montevideos. We drove each day back and forth between the hotel, where all the other out of town missionaries were staying, and the missionary home we stayed in. The drive up the Atlantic ocean was so nice. The kids really liked seeing the big waves.
We visited a laguna and sightseeing hill on Wednesday where we took the big picture of all the attendees. Thursday we took the kids shopping on the Shopping Peatonal, a sort of outdoor mall. And we headed back home on Friday after stopping to see the Sea Lions.
WalMart in Buenos Aires was a huge deal for us. We haven't been inside a Wally World for 2 years. It was the cherry on top after a few days of being somewhat immersed in English we felt like we had a little visit to the States.
We all loved the preaching of one of supporting pastors - John Stevens. God worked in our hearts through each one of his messages. Thankfully we have access to podcast sermons and so we have still been fed from the Word of God but there is nothing quite like hearing sermons in your mother tongue, in person and without translation into another language. Pastor Stevens was a special encouragement to us and we thank God for our supporting pastors.
Because we didn't stay at the hotel we were able to save some money on expenses. However, we didn't receive the vouchers for food that all the other missionaries had. Each voucher gave each person an appetizer, entree, side and dessert - a lot of food two times a day. We watched as God provided for our needs as each family gave us portions of their meals. We ended up eating a lot of steaks at no cost to us. Only God can do that.
All of the photos below are not from my camera. The first day of the conference I took my camera out only to discover the LCD was shattered. The LCD is the only viewfinder I have. So now I'm off to find out if it's worth it to replace the LCD or if I should start shopping around for another camera.
Bethany (top left) and Adeline (bottom right) eating with other MK's. 
The plaque that all the missionaries gave to our retiring field director and his wife.
Scott and I before one of the services.
Brandon and Kaitlin sat in on all the preaching sessions with us. It was great to have them there.
Sierra de los Padres, Argentina - we are to the left of Pastor Stevens in the red shirt (at right).
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