I'm back!

So for those of you who haven't seen me yet, I've grown some facial hair. (I assure you, I grew it all on the 40 hour trip I had on the way home.) So what do you think? Should I keep it? Please comment and tell me what you think. :-D

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Grandpa Cook, Grandpa Taylor, Dad, Quin, James, Ryan, Andy, and Kirk, happy Father's Day!  I have many great examples for me for the lucky day when I get to join your ranks!  ;-)  You all do a wonderful job, and I hope that this day will be (or has been, since I am writing this near midnight your time~~sorry its late!) a great one.  I am excited to be home this week and to see you all (or most of you) again soon!  And for those who I won't be able to see right away, I look forward to our next visit.
Love you all!
BJ

Iguazu and Buenos Aires

Hello family and friends! Lots has happened since I last posted (by the way, the last post went underneath BJ's last one I think). We finished up our clinicals in Tucuman- in the hospital and in the community. On our last day of community clinical, we all went to one comedor, and did a garbage clean up that we involved the children in. It was actually a lot of fun! We were so sad to leave, and they were sad too. All the little girls were kissing and hugging us, and we got a bunch of pictures, which I don't have yet. They followed us for quite a ways too, when we had to leave! On Tuesday we left for Iguazu. We had a very difficult time saying goodbye to our friends in Tucuman. We had the privilege of meeting some really wonderful people- those who worked at the hostel, and some people from the ward we attended. We loved all the hostel employees- a truly great experience to stay there and get to know them- Martin, the owner of the hostel, my good friend Virginia, her sister Romina, who came a lot even though she didn't work there, Carolina, and Pedro. It was great to share the experience with them and make friendships. We were all very emotional when we left- I was surprised, because I thought I would be fine, and then it was time to go, and with all of us gathered together, we said our goodbyes. They told us they hoped that we would consider the hostel our other home. It was so hard to leave! They walked us out and waved us off as we drove away. So hard!
The busride was supposed to be a 16 hours... it turned out to be 21 hours! Ugh! I learned what it means to have swollen ankles... bummer. Iguazu was amazing! I have never seen anything like it in my life. Talk about a piece of paradise! I have some fun pictures, which I can't upload right now because the internet connection is pretty slow here. I will post them when I can. We visited the falls on the Argentina side the first day. We walked a bunch of trails along the falls (there are actually many many falls, but Devil's Throat is the most famous) and we also did a raft ride, a jeep ride through the jungle, and a speedboat ride which took us really close to some of the falls. We got completely soaked! It was a blast though. Iguazu, unlike the rest of Argentina right now, was quite warm- in the 70s and 80s, and quite humid. We went to the Brazil side of Iguazu falls on Friday. The falls are mainly on the Argentina side, but the most gorgeous, panoramic views are from the Brazil side. We rode a bus to get to some trails which we walked and took pictures from. Then we had to pretty much head back and get back on our bus to drive to Buenos Aires- another 16 hour bus ride. We got to Buenos Aires Saturday afternoon. We are staying at a hotel here- two stars- and I must say, we are thrilled! Only two to three per room, we have real bathrooms, with toilet paper, hot showers, mirrors, and soap, and they bring you new towels everyday! We have all been using travel towels so long, we forgot what regular towels felt like! We are staying downtown, about three blocks from Florida street, which is a famous pedestrian street with tons of vendors, musicians, artists, and magicians, besides the stores and restaurants. Very fun. Today we attended church here in Buenos Aires. This is a beautiful city- the biggest I have ever been in, though. There are 14 million people living in the inner city, almost 40 thousand in the province. We will be spending about two more days here, and then we return home! I can't believe how fast and slow this trip has gone! I am sad to leave, happy to return home. I will write more soon about what we do here in Buenos Aires in the next few days, post pictures, etc. I love you all, miss you, and hope to see you soon!

Sacrament Meeting

So, it has been a while since I have posted, and I think it might be time to post again. This week has been much like the week before, with a few small exceptions. I got to go shopping this week. I went shopping for souvenirs twice and have finished my shopping I think. If I find something else that catches my attention, I might still buy it, but I could go home tomorrow and be satisfied with what I've got.

Also, we finally got to church. It was smaller than any of the branches I have been to before... including the many tiny ones I was assigned to in Korea. There was a family, one family, that was active and regular, and the rest of us were foreigners or Indians here for a visit. The group of us amounted to about 10 people... and I think that was larger than normal. I was please with their efforts though. It made me very happy to see how strong they were in the gospel when they had so little support. They day we went was district conference, which meant that the leadership (Branch President, and 1st Councilor) were off to district meetings. The rest of the branch didn't go, but rather stayed to have their own branch meeting. The 2nd councilor seemed a little shy. He didn't conduct anything, but he did sit up front. Instead the Elders Quorum President conducted sacrament meeting. He was an American who is there on company assignment. Thank goodness for his strength!

So, we sung the opening prayer, prayed, sung the sacrament prayer, prayed, sung the closing hymn, and prayed. That had to be the shortest sacrament meeting I have ever attended by far! No talks. No announcements. Just song and prayer. I guess normally they do have a talk in there, but this time they didn't. But it did make me think... isn't that the real reason for sacrament meeting anyways? To have sacrament? To pray and sing to our God? Of course, instructing each other is important too. And we did do that in Sunday School.

The same brother who conducted Sacrament Meeting, also conducted Sunday School, and taught it. They used the gospel principles handbook for their material. It was a good lesson. Very simple and too the point. But one brother there who was Indian, and is there for only a month or two, spoke of his conversion during the lesson. He said that he was converted while he was in Texas, and that shortly after his conversion, 9-11 happened. During that time, I guess Texas had a "Share your neighbors faith" program in which once a month, some religion would speak about their beliefs in some public meeting. I guess the first meeting was about Hinduism, which was his former religion. He said that as he listed to the speaker, that things sounded very familiar, and good to him. He said he wondered if he had given his religion from birth the chance it deserved. But not long after, he went to a general conference meeting to listen to the general authorities speak. He said he heard the testimony of one of the speakers and felt an overwhelming spirit of peace and confirmation about the prophets and the truthfulness of the church. I was really impressed by it. He seems like a very nice guy, and very sincere. He seemed very devout, and strong in the church. I'm sure his strength will be appreciated wherever he goes.

After Sunday School, the services were over. There was no Elders Quorum, no Relief Society or Primary. But we did stick around for a while and chat with the people who were there. It was a good experience... and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to be there. By the way... here are some pictures that I have taken, but have not posted anywhere. They aren't that beautiful, or great or anything, but they are here:

(If you don't have flash, or for some reason, can't see the images below, or if you'd simply prefer to see them a bit larger, please click on the links below!)

Rainy Day




The Kids




The House

Sorry for the delay...

I wrote this over a week ago, forgot to publish it, and have been traveling, and without internet access for several days! Sorry...
It has been one crazy week (or two)!
Last week I went to Salta and Jujuy for two days. We saw several cute indigenous pueblos, and the famous Mountain of 7 Colors- amazing! Gorgeous! We also saw the ruins (named Tilcara) of an ancient civilization which was conquered by the Incas, and later by the Spanish. Part of the ruins were restored. It was interesting to see, and the area was very beautiful. At the bottom I posted a link to some pictures from the trip with explanations of what they are. Sorry- I have to warn you, the pictures did not upload in any particular order, so they kind of jump from place to place.

I have had some good experiences in clinical in the past week. We have been able to do some labor coaching and support in "La sala de parto" (delivery room). Postpartum and the NICU have been good too. I am not going to write all of those experiences here, but my favorite experience was in labor and delivery, supporting a woman who had no one with her at all. Maybe because I felt like I was making a difference to her, maybe because it was the coolest birth I have ever seen! Like all the other women here, she received no anesthetic- it was all natural. She labored mostly standing, bending at the knees (up and down) during her contractions. I am always so proud of the women after giving birth- they are so exhausted afterwards, but they really work hard to get that baby out (naturally!). When she was close to delivering, the doctor helped pull her up so that she was sort of squatting on the edge of the bed. This helped the baby descend quickly, and she was able to deliver right after that, with no episiotomy or anything. (I can't stand episiotomys, but don't worry, I won't get on my soapbox about that right now. I will just say that the research shows that they are almost always unnecessary.) They let her nurse right away, and cleaned her up quickly. It was the best birth I have seen the whole time I have been here.

*I had better publish this now, before I forget again, and I will publish a more recent update as soon as I can. By the way, I will be coming home this week! See many of you soon!

Salta, Jujuy trip

4 down, 2 to go

So hello again friends family and all,
Well 4 down 2 to go. I'm 2/3s the way home. This week has been alright. Again nothing too exciting has happened, but all the same it hasn't been bad. On Saturday, Sri, the owner of Ecotech Outsourcing, the company we go through to hire our employees down here, took me to see a Jain temple here not too far away. The temple itself wasn't anything too spectacular. It was fun to go to, but nothing like some of the temples I know India has in the South. But all the same, it was an experience. We got to the temple and were about to go in when I was told that I would have to leave my camera behind. From the entrance I really couldn't see much. However the guard was kind enough to point a way around back where we go to see a little temple and be close enough to take pictures without disturbing anybody. So I got a few pictures of that. But the little temple was not much like the rest, but interesting all the same. So Jainism, it seems, is quite similar to Buddhaism but much stricter. Those who live it have a very limited diet. They do not eat meat (which isn't that uncommon around here) but they likewise do not eat anything that grows underground (carrots, potatoes, etc.) The foods they eat are limited to the fruits and vegetables that can be eaten without killing the plant. They literally do not believe in killing anything. They also feel (like many other religions do) that simplicity is the best way to live. That riches and wealth are corrupting agents and should be given away. However, while some live in such a fashion, they are the monks of the religion, though I don't know whether or not monks is the right name for them. The rest of the Jains seem to live fairly normal lives, with the exception of their diet, I believe. Some of the more religious people will wear a robe with nothing else on to display their simplicity of life (the men in particularly). They seem to be very friendly people, though I believe they felt a bit odd having a foreigner come and take pictures of them, and their temple. I believe Jain himself was at one point a wealthy prince or king who, after looking at the poor of his country, gave up all he had, and looked for a new way of life (not unlike the story of Buddha). And while he sat under a tree, he received inspiration on how he should live. And thus started a new religion.

The people here in India are a very peaceful people. Their culture, their beliefs all center around not hurting one another or even the animals and plants that surround them. India is a country that has been conquered over and over again (not unlike Korea) because they are a country that does not study war, and weapons, although they have been highly influential in world thought and beliefs. I understand that much of the culture of thought that Plato and Aristotle studied from came originally from India, and those philosophers have effected our thought much as well. The religions of India do seem to be idol worshiping religions for sure, but I do not believe that they would fall under the same condemnation that the idol worshiping religions of the old testament did. The idol worshiping religions of the old testament were condemned partially because of the sin and corruption that came with those idols. Their groves and high places were centers for sin, and excuses to commit sin, and they did it in the name of their fake god. But things are different here. While they do not seem to have all the same commandments that we have, in many ways they live more strict lives than we do. Dave (my boss) speculates that there is a lot of “playing around” outside of marriage here, but that is his opinion, and while I would agree that it likely does happen, I don't believe it happens here more than it happens in the US, in fact, I'd dare say it happens far less. The culture in the US is obsessed with sex and violence. It is uncommon to find a TV show that doesn't elude to sex or depict a violent scene. We have much we could learn from India. Unfortunately, it seems that we are influencing India more than they are us. Traditional shops that frequently have religious figurines and paintings in one corner are being replaced with malls that have great big pictures of women with little on. Materialism is slowly replacing living a life of simplicity. When I first got here I spoke of how my just being here is helping them rise out of poverty. And while that is still true, I guess I'm realizing that what we are doing isn't all good either.

We went to a mall yesterday so Dave and Amanda could buy some things for their house keeper and her daughter as a favor. I watched as all of this progressed, Reja (I'm not sure if that is how it is spelled or not) tied her scarf around her face while she was in the car. She said she couldn't stand the smells. The smell of the AC, the smell of the tar on the road, the smell of the exhaust... things that we hardly think about unless they are particularly bad she could hardly stand. When we got to the mall Reja looked lost. I think that was her first trip to a mall, but I'm not certain. She was taken to the children's clothing area and she looked around and she simply didn't know what to do. Amanda started pulling things out, and helped her choose an outfit for her daughter Wonshu. They also took her into the women's clothing area and picked her an outfit out too. I wonder what she thought of all the images that were around her. It was pretty much the same as what you would see in a mall in the US, lingerie, bright lights, models with plastic faces; she must have been somewhat overwhelmed with what she saw. I think Dave and Amanda were well intentioned and all, but I think after watching all of this that next time I'd take her to the places that she shops and not to the places they shop. She was certainly grateful for all the stuff she and her daughter was given, but I think she felt quite uneasy the entire night.

More pics