I’m here at Jerry and Jeanie Dunn’s house at Buenos Aires. I met them last night during the flight back from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires.
Last night was one of the most interesting nights of my life. I went to Ushuaia airport fairly early because I wanted to make sure I got on the flight. Plus, the confirmation paper said that I was limited to 15 kg for luggage. When I got to the Airline office, they had told me 15 kg for check in and 5kg for carry on, and 5 pesos per kg for any extra kg. When I got to the airport, though, they didn’t say anything about it. When I did ask, just in case they decide to charge me later, they looked almost confused and said it doesn’t matter. Whew. I paid 13 Argentinian pesos in airport taxes and waited for the gates to open.
I got there early enough for lunch, but as soon as I finished, I got an intercom call. It turns out that a few pieces of souveniere that I picked up from the ruins raised an alarm with the security guard, who correclty identified that I had rocks in my bag. They opened up my backpack and saw that it’s nothing more than a few souveniers made of rock I had picked up at Palenque, Copan, and Machu Picchu. She would later explain that people would pick up fossil rocks from Patagonia and try to fly back home with them, not knowing that it’s illegal to do that. So she didn’t give me a hard time.
The plane had gotten delayed 40 minutes from Buenos Aires. And when it did finally arrive, it took its sweet time leaving. And Argentine Air said there would be one stop on the paper, but wouldn’t specify where or what time we’d get there. So I assumed one stop meant Buenos Aires. But no, my GPS showed that we were heading to El Calafate. 95 percent of the people took off and a new crowd came in. The one thing I will remember from that ride is that the woman sitting next to me was passing some serious gas. And having had to smell it, I could see why she was. Even the gas was spicy as hell. Near the end of the trip, she would get up to use the restroom. I was thinking, thank god, hope she won’t have to do that again anytime soon. But sure enough, she passed gas as soon as she sat down. They didn’t serve any snacks or drinks during the hour long flight. What I found interesting is that instead of heading straight to the city at Northwest, they headed north to stay within the boundaries of Argentina and taking a left turn at around Rio Gallegos where they wouldn’t be passing through Chilean border.
After another hour delay, we finally left for Buenos Aires. What was supposed to be a plane ride arriving at the capital around 9:30PM turned out to arrive at 11:30PM. But it wasn’t too bad of a flight. They actually served dinner and drinks. The lady sitting in the middle next to me was pregnant, and so I had gotten up for her to pass through. Later on, she called the attendant, asking to translate if I can’t trade the aisle seat with her. I was sorry I didn’t understand her the first time.
I didn’t say much with her and don’t know too much about her, but I was very impressed with her. She had this tiny nose piercing, and she was 5 months pregnant. When the plane was taking its sweet time taking off, I looked at her and said, ‘this is fun.’ I said it in English then in Spanish. She had this smile on her face I will never forget. She later got some catalogue for babies out and for whatever reason, it made me smile.
The plane ride was on its last 45 minutes of its journey when the flight attendant noticed that I was using my GPS. I thought I was in big trouble for using electronic devices, especially a GPS device, on the flight. But no, he was also a pilot himself, and was just fascinated by it. I got to talking about how I drove from California to Ushuaia and how the GPS helped me out several times. The girl next to me was amazed, too. She could understand a lot more English than she could speak it. Turns out she worked for Chamber of Commerce in El Calafate, but she had family she was going to visit in Buenos Aires.
Her name’s Ellie. Later on, I told her that I usually don’t have all this hair and that when I first started out, I looked much more presentable. This is also when I found out she was 5 months pregnant and she took out an ultrasound photo of her baby in her carry on bag. There was something about her that made me very happy for her. She was overjoyed about her being pregnant and everything. How can you not be happy for a pregnant lady with an ultrasound photo, looking through a baby catalogue?
That’s when I met Jerry Dunn. His first words to me were, “Did I hear you right, you drove all the way to Ushuaia from California?” And I said, yes, surprised that someone in Argentina spoke perfect English. Of course he did, he was from Lancaster, California.
Turns out he and his wife, Jeanie, have been in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 2 years and was just finishing up their 2 year missionary work with the Mormon church. They had travelled all over Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, giving lectures and doing several things to make the people here more self-reliant. We were heading out of the airplane so I quickly wished him luck and said our good byes.
We had to take a bus to the baggage claim area and I took this opportunity to ask for a pen from the bus driver. I quickly wrote down my name, email address and webpage for the Dunns to look at. I made my way to the back of the bus to find them. And when I did, they asked, “do you have a place to stay for the night?” No. “Would you like to stay with us?” Speechless.
I didn’t know how to respond. I was a complete stranger to them, and they were offering me something that I dearly needed after a 2 hour delay made me look for a place to stay at 11:30PM. After some stumbling over my own words, I politely accepted.
There have been points in my life where I want to doubt God. The very existence of it. I want to think I’m smarter than that. I want to be idealistic enough to think there must be one, perfect god who everyone would accept without any doubt. Sometimes, I think I’m actually looking for clues to disprove the existence of even an idea of it.
And then things like this happen where I’m overwhelmed with a profound sense that no matter what I believe, there is that one God who is looking after me. That even if my ambitions may lead me stranded alone, he will never leave me astray. And the further I tried to get away from it all, the closer and closer I became in solidifying my belief in Him.
I had started the journey with a Christian group, having helped build a house in Monterrey, Mexico. And I had felt very much welcomed and accepted as part of their family. And so I wanted to finish the journey with something related to Christianiany. I had always thought it would happen at the end, donating my car to a korean christian church in Buenos Aires. But no, it was much different than that. And much, much more meaningful.
The Dunns took me right in and it’s been a great experience being with them. I get to ask all the questions I want to about what they do here and how the Mormon church operates.
Today, I woke up bright and early at 8:30 AM to go to their church service. I didn’t really understand what was going on 90 percent of the time because it was all in Spanish, but I really enjoyed how much I learned about their denomination. There isn’t a single visible cross. They hold the cross to high reverence but feel that it symbolizes more of the dead Christ than the living one that they truly believe in. Their service was divided into 3 1 hour parts, the priesthood, then the bible study, and then finally the main service during which the Dunns got to go up there and speak in Spanish about what their experience for the past 2 years has meant to them.
I learned more about the Dunns. Jerry’s been to Peru when he was 19 as his first Mormon mission. His family lived in South Colorado when he left and they moved to Lancaster, CA, when his father found a job there and has lived there ever since. He didn’t know any Spanish and had been sent for 2 years. Since then, he’s taught Spanish to High School students for the past 36 years. He had just retired when he had decided to go on another 2 year mission. He’s a Bronco fan, but much more of a College Football fan than anything. They don’t let them choose where they go, the church decides for them after a thorough questionnaire and review.
This was Jeanie’s first Mormon mission. The women aren’t encouraged nearly as much as the men are when they turn eligible at age 19. She didn’t speak much Spanish then, but I was very impressed with her Spanish during her testimony today. She was a homemaker, having raised 6 kids. She was also raised a Presbyterian but later converted and met Jerry at BYU.
They’ve been to all the provinces of Argentina, lecturing and things. They say they’ll go to another mission sooner or later again, but would like to enjoy at least a year off. They’ve been married for 40 years.
There are other missionaries here in this particular church as well and they’ve all been great. They invited me over for lunch, and although the Dunns couldn’t make it due to another family’s invite to their lunch, I got to sit in on their weekly lunch potluck. Everything was so delicious, the bread, the meat, carrots, vegetables, the pie, all of it. I deeply appreciated their enthusiasm about having me as a guest and I never felt as though I was out of place. I will always remember the way they welcomed me as though I was part of their family. I almost wanted to cry. If God wanted me to know that I’m being looked after, He let me know then and there. The last 24 hours have been a true testimony to that.
Dr. Robinson took me back to Jerry’s house, who was waiting for me outside on the streets. I took a quick hot shower and just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon talking football and family and things. Soon, it was time for dinner and we had a light one with pancakes and homemade syrup. Jeanie said it’s the best one I’ll ever have. She wasn’t kidding.