I'm Late and Sorry

Neil and I wanted to take this time to say thank you to all of our friends and family that have been so supportive of this wonderful adventure we have had here in Argentina.  We have made so many new friends that we consider family now.  All of you who played games with us, i.e. Words With Friends, Yahtzee and et cetera, that was so nice because without TV to waste our time, we needed something else.  Also, we want to thank Jesse for keeping us up to date on the places we couldn't be but not missing out totally.  There are so many things to say and so many to thank but first and foremost, Thank You Jehovah for this wonderful privilege.  We hope many of you can make adjustments in your lives to do the same.  There is nothing like it.

Well, in case you haven't heard, we have received a new assignment and we are very happy.  We leave June 6th for a six month assignment in Argentina volunteering on the Ezeiza assembly hall.  We are changing our blog address for this to neilandcindyontheroad.blogspot.com    We hope it is easier to find as the current one often took people to an Asian couple's wedding.  So please follow us there.  And thanks and love to you all again.

Also, we do not allow comments on this page because it is too difficult to control.  Ciao Ciao

Iguaza Falls, Spectacular

Well, I haven't posted since we went to Iguazu Falls.  Iguazu is a Gurani word that means Big Water.  We took 200 photos and none of them do the falls justice so we bought a DVD.  We haven't had a chance to look at it but we will when we get home. 

I'm just going to post a few of the falls.  There are actually over 200.  The biggest and most spectacular is called "Devil's Throat".  Another one we liked was called "Two Sisters."

Here we are in front of Devil's Throat.  Iguazu is much larger than Niagra.  You can see a different view from the Brazilian side but we did not have a visa to go into the country.  We were amazed at what we did see.  We also saw this little creature that appeared quite cute called a coati  It turned out to be a pest.  We had so many photos of them.  Neil kept clicking and I kept deleting.

They would jump on the table and still food and they bite.  So I wanted nothing to do with them. There are signs up everywhere not to feed them and we saw a girl doing so.  I couldn't watch because I was afraid she'd get bit.  Anyway, they were everywhere.

A young brother and sister named Daniel and Emma let us stay at their home while we were in Iguazu.  She was raised there and he is from Buenos Aires.  They were such kind hosts.  Thanks Daniel and Emma. 

Here we are having lunch with them.  They are so cute.

The next day they took us to an animal reserve for injured animals.  Many are extinct so they breed them as well once they are better.  Some they let out into the wild again.  Many animals are hit by cars by tourists there to see the falls.  We saw the usual animals and birds but these are special circumstances.  Daniel's sister works there so we got a special deal.  Thanks again

This is the entrance and Guira Oga is Guarani for bird house.

After visiting here we went to a Guarani exhibit of sorts and saw an enlarged replica of how they trapped animals.  Very interesting.  We had never heard of Guarani until we came here.  Many people in Paraguay speak this language but in Argentina also.

 

The next day we went back to Canuelas.  We had a wonderful time.  Thank you to Sergio and Claudia for the trip and to Daniel and Emma for the place to stay.

There are so many more photos of our wonderful trip to Igagua Argentina and the Cataratas.  My next and final blog will be of our visit with Gaston and Gaby, our trip to Bethel, the final photos we have of the assembly hall and our special thanks to everyone.  Till tomorrow.

Ezeiza Family Day

Well, it's Friday and a lot to say.  First of all we leave for home in two weeks and our last two weeks are full.  Tomorrow we leave for Igazu Falls and we will be back in Canuelas on Tuesday night.  We work Wednesday.  I have my home work day on Thursday next week and then Friday we work and go home with Gabby and Gaston for the weekend.  We return with them to work in Ezeiza on Monday morning.  We work on Tuesday and after work we go to Buenos Aires with Alejandro to spend the night in Bethel and take a Bethel tour on Wednesday.  Wednesday night we go to the English meeting in Buenos Aires and I have my home work day on Thursday.  We work on Friday and come home Saturday.  Wow!!!

So here is how the Ezeiza Family Day went.  First of all the whole family was divided into four teams.  Red, Blue, Green and Yellow.  We were on the Green team and the construction overseer Rob, was the team captain.  This is part of our team.

The game that Neil participated in was the balloon bust.  I think you know you have to run over and sit on a balloon and break it.

I was in the quarter drop.  You have to run with a quarter between your knees and drop it in a cup at the end.  Well, I was successful however, I messed my back up and as of today it is still messed up.  I need chiropractor and acupuncture.

This photo was preinjury and also made me realize something....I am old!

Again, we had asada and chorizo and this is our home overseer, Daniel, cooking.  It was great.  Also, ice cream and soda.

Also there was a vote for who had the most infectious smile on the project.  The winner was the brother on the left named Bruno.  He is who we voted for too.  Our home overseer Daniel is a close second in our opinion.  He is seated next to Bruno.  This is a very happy group.

This was the score board.  I was the person putting up the tags and I will tell you, it is not a popular position to be in.  In our book, everyone was a winner though.

This was tug of war between green and yellow.  Neil is about the third on the right.  Green won but when blue went up against red next, the rope broke so that was all of that game.

This was our table for lunch.  The brother on the left is our old house mate, Shem.  He and his wife Kazumi were transferred to work at Bethel.

This is a photo of the Ezeiza Construction Family as of yesterday.  Yesterday we had hamburgers, french fries, and ice cream so I know you know what that means...yes we had another couple say goodbye, their plane leaves tomorrow and they are back to Florida.  Bye Rob and Brenda.  It is always sad to say good bye.

Neil went around and took a bunch of landscaping photos and he took a bunch of our resident owls.  I think there are about eight and you can see them all times of the day.  They look right at you and you get creeped out by their stare.

This is a sign in the landscaping here in Canuelas near the entry door to the assembly hall.  For those of you coming here for the international assembly in October, this might still be here when you come.  The Canuelas Family is anxious for you to come.

Neil took one photo from Ezeiza.  It is of a plane taking off.  The airport is literally right next door.  He has taken several but hasn't gotten the perfect shot that he wants yet.  He will keep trying.

Next week will be photos of Iguazu and then lastly the most up to date photos of the school and assembly hall will be posted.  We hope you have enjoyed our trip with us.  I also want to introduce you to Sergio, Claudia and Mattais, the family that gave us this wonderful gift to Iguazu.

Thank you so much for a wonderful gift.

Love from the Shaughnessys.

A Special Day in Canuelas

I need to start this blog by making a correction to last week's entry.  It has come to my attention by Nico, that I said his English was limited and he takes exception with that.  So, sorry about that.  Nico's English is bueno.  He says Cesi's English is limited.  Now my life is settled.

The Argentina Bethel Family had their annual family day here at our home at the Canuelas Assembly Hall.  Because we live here, we were invited.  We will probably never have such a privilege again and we are so happy we were here to have a part.  They have been planning all year for this and started putting it together last Wednesday.  We took so many photos and just can't do it justice so if you want to see more than posted here, come by and we will share.  I did not get photos of the following:  the brothers playing on six different soccer fields, volleyball, tennis, game tables, puzzle table, playing basketball, playing bocci (two different areas) and playing foosball.  I will try to show the other activities though.

Some of the brothers arrived Friday night and slept in the assembly hall, open rooms and some in tents.  They started cooking the meat at 5:30 Saturday morning and the buses arrived around 8:30.

 This was the night before.  

We had pizza the night before made in this pizza oven.

This is the welcome sign that the brothers would see when they arrived.

This was the event schedule.  Everyone received a gift bag with a hat in it and drink mugs and a special letter.

This was some of the sausage and chorizo cooking.  There was much more.

This was the pork and beef.  Pork is closest to us and beef in the background.  We had salads, bread, sweets, potato chips, soda, watermelon and tons of Bethel ice cream, chocolate and strawberry.  Enough for seconds, thirds and whatever.  No one went hungry.

Our table for dinner.  We got to meet so many wonderful people.  400 Bethel family members were there.

There were brothers singing..

Horses with no saddles.  That freaked me out.

Aerobics first thing in the morning.

Two go karts.

Several pool tables.

Several ping pong tables.  I thought I was pretty good but young 

Alejandro beat me four times straight.

There were six pools.  This is the permanent one at Canuelas and you can see two in the background.  We didn't get in because it was cool and breezy and a very fine mist of rain for a short time.

There was time for siesta too.  Lots and lots of hammocks.

This was an exhausting day for some of us.

We were divided up into language groups and given a verse from Kingdom songs to sing.  There was Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Guarani, Armenian, English, Sign Language and I think I am forgetting one.  Anyway, at the end we sang the last verse altogether.  It was awesome.  Brings tears to your eyes.

English Group

Sign language group.

This is the home overseer for Bethel, Pablo, and his wife Norma.  So friendly and loving.

Sweet couple from Bethel, Eunice and Marcos.

Argentina Bethel Family 2013

We are so privileged to have been a part of this special day.  Next weekend here at Canuelas is the Ezeiza Construction Family Day.  More fun to be had and we will photograph that as well. 

 Neil and I have received a very special gift from a very generous family.  They are sending us to Iguazu Falls.  They are one of the new nine wonders of the natural world.  They are located on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.  It is said that when Eleanor Roosevelt saw Iguazu Falls that she said, "Oh, poor Niagra."  We will let you know.   We leave on February 2 and return the 5th.  We will post photos of this experience along with a photo of this most generous family.  Thank you Sergio and Claudia and Mattais.  

Until next time, we send our love from all the brothers here in Argentina and wish you could be here with us... love,  Neil and Cindy

We Had a Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was so fun although it was very hot and humid.  The week was good too.  For me it was the same in the kitchen and dining room but Neil was excited to dig the baptismal pool and work on the entrance road and so there is where my photos begin.

This is the marking for the baptismal pool.  It doesn't really look that big right here.  So....

If it was finished and filled with water, it could be very useful right now.  It did rain a bit so here are some photos of the rain.

We also had four new brothers move in at Canuelas for one month.  One of the brothers was written up in the November WT Public Edition under the article The Bible Changes Lives.  He is from Austria and his first language is German.  He speaks Italian, Spanish, English and says a few words in Japanese.  The other three boys are in their early 20's and speak a little English.  Their youth and love for Jehovah is refreshing.

Last Sunday after the meeting a brother and sister from here at the assembly hall in Canuelas took us to Buenas Aires to see the  Rio de Plate.  We had a nice time having refreshments and looking at the river.

Sergio is an engineer, he used to work in the States and speaks very good English.  His lovely wife is Raquel and she does not speak any English but she smiles a lot and is a good sport about  having to have Sergio translate most of what we say.  As of yet, we are not fluent in Spanish, however we do have five weeks to get there.  Afterwards we went to TGI Fridays and had an American burger.  We ordered two burgers and onion rings, two waters and one coke and it cost $60 US Dollars.  Wow!!!! No more of that.

Yesterday a lovely couple named Nico and Ceci took us to Le Tigre.  We had been their before but it was so different this time.  We went on a boat taxi and had lunch and it was overcast and breezy and so cool on the water.  A HUGE wake came off the water and soaked Ceci and me and we were wet the rest of the day.  That was okay.  They are the ages of Andrew and Jeff and they are having their first baby in June, her name will be Olivia.

 They are very hospitable and kind.  Their English is limited as is our Spanish but we managed to talk all day and understand each other completely.....we think.

This was the restaurant we ate at for lunch.  We had salad, asada, papas fritas otherwise known as french fries, 7-up for the girls and beer for the guys.  Delicioso.

This is the water taxis.  It takes you all along the delta and makes stops at different spots where you can picnic or eat or where people live.  It was so relaxing and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Delta of Le Tigre

Locals cooling off!

We had a wonderful time in Le Tigre and Nico took care of everything in the planning so we didn't have to worry about a thing.  We couldn't have had a better time.  Thanks guys.

Today after the meeting, which by the way, we both commented in Spanish,  we were invited on a picnic with a family from our congregation.  They are Julio, Ana, Celeste and Violeta.  Oke and Ing Marie were there too.  They also brought along their pet goat.

Celeste is 10 and Violeta is 7.  They give wonderful comments at the meeting.  They greet everyone with a beautiful smile and a kiss.  They are going to preach in Northern Argentina next week for about a week and have to camp out doing it.  Quite an adventure for them.

Here is the family and the goat being shy.  Ana is Nico's sister.  So their hospitable nature runs in the family.  We had asada, salad and a wonderful homemade Tiramisu that Ana made.  We were hoping to drop some weight here.  It's not going to happen.  Here is a photo of the asada.

Well, a wonderful week has come to an end.  Next weekend is going to be really exciting for everyone and especially for Neil and me.

Next weekend is the Argentina Bethel Family Day.  It is held here in Canuelas because the property is so large and beautiful.  Since we live here, we are invited.  We here it is an event to be seen so we are glad we will still be here to see it.

The only news from the kitchen is this, Suzi and her husband have gone to seldom worked territory for two weeks in northern Argentina so I will not have her around for awhile.  I hate that.  We get along so well and we work well together.  I hope she has a great time and it is a great privilege to serve Jehovah in that capacity.

Hasta la proxima vez!