RETURN TO ARGENTINA

November 2025 - May 2027

Welcome to our blog! It is our way of sharing our third mission experience. This time we were called to serve in the Argentina Mendoza Mission for 18 months. The most exciting part of this call was for Ned to be able to return to the area where he served his youth mission, and hopefully receive the miracle of seeing people he knew 50 years ago.

This is a map of the Argentina Mendoza Mission. It is about 1 1/2 times the size of Utah, and has about 200 young and senior missionaries. The weather in Mendoza reminds us a lot of parts of Arizona. It will get warmer than 90 degrees in the summer, and cold enough to snow some years in the winter. It has many vineyards and is known for its wine making.

We are pleased to serve under our Mission Leaders, Thomas and Pamela Ingersoll, from Laguna Beach, California. They have welcomed us warmly, along with the other two senior couples that are currently serving here, the Harrisons and Rogers, both from Utah.

We left from the Salt Lake City airport on Monday November 3rd. Our daughter, April, had just given birth to a baby boy, Mason, a week earlier, so we said goodbye to her family at their house. Sarah, who was in town to help April with her new baby, drove us to the airport. Seth and his family joined us there to say goodbye. Goodbye hugs are even more meaningful at our age. The hardest part about serving a senior mission is that we won't be with our children and their families for some time. We are grateful for WhatsApp so we can see and visit with them regularly.

Alli and Seth, Ned, Maggie, Brooke, Mary and Sarah

We will be replacing Mark and Debbie Harrison who finish their mission shortly. On Sunday, we attended the Tres Portenas branch with them, their daughter and their son-in-law who were visiting. After the meetings, the branch president's family, the Fernandez  family, invited us to their house for a truly Argentine lunch. Hermana Fernandez had prepared the ingredients and we participated in a "cooking class" to learn how to make true Argentine food.

Us with the Harrisons and Fernandez family.

Ned's favorite dish from Argentina is the empenada. Meat, chopped eggs, onion and spices are included in a pastry-like shell and baked in an outdoor oven. Raw egg is brushed on the outside to enhance the shell. Here is a view of the final steps before baking. Working together, we produced  about 150 empenadas. We also learned how Pastel de Papas is made, another Argentine favorite.

A view of the largest park in Mendoza.

About five blocks west of where we live is a large, beautiful park (Parque San Martin). This is a shot of part of the lake which is at the center of most of the activities of the park. I'm sure we will take walks there with some frequency.

Zone Conference in San Rafael.

In our first full week here, the mission held four zone conferences in three different chapels. The conferences were edifying and the opportunity to associate with so many young missionaries was a true blessing. At the end of each conference, all the missionaries stood to sing "Called to Serve" in Spanish. It was amazing. Ned received reports on some of the areas where he served as a young man.. He was particularly moved to learn that the sister who prepared the lunches for the two Mendoza meetings, was one who served as a stake missionary when he served in the Mendoza area. It was a mission miracle and a joyful reunion.

Ned's zone in Godoy Cruz in 1975. The sister in black is 

Adrianna Quinteros de Rastelli, who catered the lunch.

Here is Sister Quinteros de Rastelli about 50 years later as she was catering another lunch.

Driving here has its challenges, although it is much bettter than Guatemala. As we drove to the fourth zone conference, we came across several trucks loaded as high as possible with recently harvested garlic.

Gary and Lucy Richardson plus four of their children and three spouses. 

Coincidentally, a brother with whom Ned served in the Youg Men's organization for several years in Tempe, Arizona, his wife, four children and three spouses visited Mendoza while we are here. We had arranged to be in the same temple session as the son (Jeff) not knowing who else would be there. A second mission miracle was that several of his family members were there. Ned has many happy memories of the years he served with Gary and was delighted to be able to spend time with them. The daughter and her husband on your left sang in the Tabernacle Choir with Ned's brother, Loren.