More Pictures - Beunos Aires temple, Santa Clara (first area)

The national flag of Argentina dates from 1812. It is a triband, composed of three equally wide horizontal bands colored light blue, white and light blue. In 1818, a yellow Sun of May was added to the center. The full flag featuring the sun is called the Official Ceremonial Flag (Spanish: Bandera Oficial de Ceremonia). The flag without the sun is considered the Ornamental Flag (Spanish: Bandera de Ornato).

Buenos Aires Argentina Temple
Official website for the temple: http://www.lds.org/temples/main/0,11204,1912-1-75-0,00.html

The Buenos Aires Argentina Temple is the 39th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church leaders announced plans to build a temple in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, in April 1980. Three years later, ground was broken and the site was dedicated by Bruce R. McConkie. After the building's completion an open house was held December 17–24, 1985. Because of the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple's location, visitors traveling from the airport to downtown Buenos Aires drive right past the temple.

President Thomas S. Monson presided over the temple dedication on January 17, 1986. The Buenos Aires Argentina Temple has a total of 11,980 square feet, four ordinance rooms, and three sealing rooms.

First area: Santa Clara, Near Capital city, Posadas, Misiones Province

First apartment in Santa Clara

Thank goodness for fans. The subtropical climate has no dry season, which makes Misiones one of the most humid provinces in Argentina.

The Misiones plateau includes a part of Brazil across the border. The rocks contain significant quantities of iron which forms a part of the soil, giving it a reddish color.

Two years of red dirt! Good luck with your laundry, elder!

Oh yeah, the bugs are out and they are fierce! Make sure to wear your water sandals when taking a shower. Yuck!

The Greenie Stage Begins

Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 19:49:02
Okay so this will be short because I don,t have much time this week. My p days are on Wednesdays. My trainer is Elder Patterson from Orem, Utah. He's a good elder. He goes home in 3 months so I have to keep him from getting trunky. The weather is ridiculously hot and humid here. Inside my mission there are 5 states Formosa, Chaco, Corrientes, Santa Fe, and Misiones. I am in Misiones in a suburb called Santa Clara on the outskirts of the big city Posadas. The dirt in Misiones is that red dirt that we thought I'd have. My apt. is called a pensión (pench for short) it is small. There should be pictures attached. My ears are starting to separate the words when people speak but i still don't understand all the words the use. My area is supposedly one of the tougher ones for baptisms. My comp and I clapped a house two days ago and got a new investigator to teach. We taught the first lesson and we are going back this Friday. It is really fun talking and getting to know these people. The dish that people serve most is milonesa which is just breaded chick or steak. It is simply all right. I drink about 2 liters of water each day. I can't wait to understand what people are saying. It was nice to talk to most of the fam. I love you all. Talk to you next Miércoles/Wednesday (there is your spanish word for the week).
Love, Elder Hunsaker

Tricia's additions from wikipedia:
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north and east, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.

Population:
There are 965,522 people living in Misiones. Majority of the residents of Misiones are descendants of immigrants. Unlike many regions of Argentina where the immigrants came through Buenos Aries, most of the immigrants that settled in Misiones came through Southern Brazil. The ethnic groups that settled in Misiones are Italians, Germans, Spaniards, Poles, Ukrainians, French, Swiss, Russians, Swedes, Danes, Arabs, and Japanese.

Economy:
The major contribution to the province's economy comes from the jungle, particularly tourism and logging. The principal exploited trees are the Paraná pine, Guatambú, Cedar, Petiribí, Incense, Cane water-pipe, Anchico, Eucalyptus and Gueycá. Another source of income is the cultivation of yerba mate, tea and, in minor amounts, tobacco, sugar cane, rice and coffee. Cattle production is rare.

Its illiteracy rate is 8.6%.

Elder Hunsaker is finally in Resistencia!

Matt arrived in Argentina yesterday at 10 AM their time. Resistencia is five hours different than PST. All of the happenings described here are after that time frame. The temperature in Resistencia today was 95 degrees 85 percent humidity. His flight to Chile took 12 hours. That is why he doesn't want to do it any time soon. MOM

Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 19:32:32 +0000
I´m finally in Resistencia and boy is it hot and humid. I've been at the mission home all day and things are great here. Total travel time to Resistencia was 26 hours in plane or bus plus another 9-10 spent sitting and waiting. The drivers here are psycho. Everyone is really nice here. My Spanish to a decent leap once i spoke with a few native missionaries. I hope that my first area is in Eldorado, Misiones which is where the Iguazu Falls are located. I have pictures at the Buenos Aires Temple. I saw some parrots fly out of the trees there it was so cool. I´m glad i don´t have to make that whole trip for another two years. My mission president is really cool. I've eaten a bunch of different things so far. It is fairly clean here in Resistencia. I get to meet my trainer in the morning. Love you all. Love -Elder Hunsaker