The Willson Heritage Link

2010-07-30T16:46:00.002-05:00

I've just reviewed this entire blog, and I think that it was a wonderful thing for our family. I want to thank Cordell for giving the family this opportunity to stay in touch for the two years we were gone. Sometimes in this computer Internet age we take things for granted, but we need to remember that all this marvelous technology doesn't do us a bit of good unless we use it. The trick is to keep it within the bounds of sensibility, and not to get so tuned in to the technology that we tune our family out. We love you all, and thanks for being there while we were gone.
Thanks again to Cordell for his thoughtfulness and techno-savvy.
Grandma & Grandpa.

One Year and a Half Update

2010-06-13T17:25:00.003-05:00

These are just a few of the eternal brothers and sisters we left behind in Mexico

Well, we have been home for a year and a half, and it only seems like forever. We miss the people of Mexico. We hear from them once in awhile, but we really have no clue as to what is happening down there.
Since we got home:
We bought a car
Drove to Boise a half dozen times
We went to see 4 plays at the Old Lyric Theater (simply marvelous)
Marjorie had foot surgery and recovered (6 weeks)
I had surgery on my upper spine and have recovered (8 months)
We put our home back together (still working on that)
We planted a garden
We went fishing (We do that often now)
All in all we are doing just great, and we are healthy and happy. I don't think we are up to going on another mission to Mexico, but it's not because we wouldn't want to it's because our bodes are just to old and decrepit to walk 5 or 7 miles a day and knock on 2 or 3 thousand doors and climb 1500 sets of stairs. We will just hope that the Lord will find enough useful work for us to do right here at home, helping to build the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Our mission to Mexico taught us both a very important lesson. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true; Joseph Smith is a prophet called by God to restore His church and Kingdom on earth; and the Book of Mormon is the word of God.
I hope that any of my converted friends who read this, will make the decision to put their life on hold for two years, and go on a mission with their spouse to a foreign land, and preach the gospel to people who will become your eternal brothers and sisters in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe we're at home now

2009-07-06T19:26:00.007-05:00

Family fun at Corinne's Pool

Mom mows Rich's lawn

First family Dinner

Eternal friends we left behind but will never forget

Actually we've been home for two months plus a week, but it is hard to believe. We both are in for repairs, but nothing serious. We hope to be up and running good as new in another month or so. Missionary work in Mexico is not for wimps or sissies, but it was the best thing we have ever done together besides raising our four children.
When we got off the plane our entire family except for 4 were waiting near the baggage claim. And they were all in sombreros and they had a huge sign saying "Welcome Home Grandma and Grandpa." I wish we would of had our camera ready, but we were in shock. Then as we approached them they flipped up two "Great's" over grandma and grandpa. All the Bush Kids had on tea shirts with either Aunt _____ or Uncle _______ and Jessica and Nicole had tea shirts with "Baby #1 and Baby #2." What a great surprise, and welcome home gift.
When we got home we found out that Michael had to be life flighted to Primary Childrens Hospital in SLC, he was in diabetic coma, and he gave us all a really big scare. He's fine now but he is officially a diabetic and has to take insulin every day. He is handling it like a pro, with help from his family.
Since we have been home we still have to give ourselves a reality check ever now and then, it is so different here, and we just love it. We miss our converts, contacts, and friends in Mexico, and we are trying to maintain contact, but it is hard. We are hoping things will settle down when we get all our repair work done.
To all our friends and family who read this If you haven't done it already, we hope you put a senior missionary experience on your "Bucket List" it really is a worthwhile goal, and we promise you, you will never regret it.

Waiting for Takeoff & Thinking About the Good and the Bad

2009-03-13T18:38:00.017-06:00

We will fix this for you all when we get home

Two years passed us by like a herd of elk, and we are still here waiting to go home and thinking about all the things we will miss and some of the things we won’t miss about Mexico.
Of course nowhere in this world is all good or all bad, but we can’t help thinking about all of the things we won’t miss about Mexico. We won’t miss combies, topes, holes big enough in the street to swallow a Volkswagen, impossible traffic jams that are worse than gridlock in L.A. at rush hour or the smog caused by these traffic jams. Drivers who think the four most important pieces of equipment on a car are the 9,000 decibel sound system, the horn, a tailpipe that will rattle windows on both sides of the street when passing by, and a car alarm that they can play with as they wait outside their latest girlfriends house while she puts on more lipstick and perfume. We won’t miss the taxi drivers and merchants who try to rob you when they think you don’t know what the correct price is. Even though some of the graffiti and tagging is quite imaginative or artistic, we won’t miss it because it is literally everywhere you look. It is on every single blank wall and it is even on some peoples beautiful iron or plank doors to their private courtyards in front of their houses. If we were living here in our own house, and they did this to us, I’d be out at night hiding in the bushes with a baseball bat or a rubber hose. Another thing we won’t miss is the cannon blasting that goes on at the drop of a hat, and sometimes lasts all night or even days or weeks at a time. We won’t miss parties in tents set up in the middle of the street, that hire an MC and a disc jockey or mariachi band that plays all night, even after all the kids are in bed and all the relatives and neighbors have passed out. We won’t miss poor, homeless, filthy dirty, starving dogs, that people don’t care about, and drivers run over just for fun. We won’t miss tap water we can’t drink, and that leaves the toilet bowl with a ring of nasty looking grime that you cannot clean off with any cleaning product now on the earth. While we are on the subject of toilets we won’t miss the 16 inch high toilet seats either. We won’t miss the rickety, ugly, broken down, on its last legs couch that was given to us by some very kind members, and has served us faithfully until its very last gasp. Actually we should give it a proper military funeral because it looks like it has been through the war of 1812. We won’t miss nasty little bugs that come out of the walls at night and try to eat us alive in our sleep. We won’t miss the people who either steal or borrow someone else’s child to go door to door with and beg for money to buy medicine for their supposedly cancer ridden grandmother. We won’t miss the explosive sound of the boiler in the middle of the night when the temperature of the water drops below 80 degrees. We won’t miss our tiny little cement house with no heat or air-conditioning. We won’t miss the people who go around stealing the electric meters right off the front of your house, and we certainly won’t miss Pedro who rented us a house which he didn’t even own and then disappeared off the face of the earth with or $3400 pesos (1st and last months rent).
Despite all these negative things we’ll miss Mexico and all the beautiful little children we see passing on the street. We’ll miss all the long black thick hair that they seem to grow from the minuet they are born until they die. We’ll miss the cheerful smiles of the people when we say “buenas días,” and their cheerful attitude despite the impossible economic conditions that they have to put up with, for now. We’ll miss all of our eternal friends, and the missionaries we have worked with. We’ll miss the birds that come to our front walk by our window and eat the birdseed we put out. We’ll miss year round watermelon, avocados, fresh fruits and vegetables, and flowers that never cease to bloom. We’ll miss the excitement of seeing someone whose door we knocked on and told them the truth, when they change their ways and start coming to church with real joy in their hearts. We’ll miss real Mexican food, cooked by real Mexican women and men served with real Mexican love. We’ll miss the genuine besos y brazos we receive when our Mexican friends greet us. We’ll miss the sounds of happy children playing in front of their houses, or as they walk to and from school. We’ll miss piñatas, trompos, and the little kids being pushed down the street in their racecar strollers.
Don’t get us wrong despite all the bad and because of all the good we have loved this experience of being in Mexico and serving the Lord by helping to build the kingdom of God on earth. Missionary work is grand and glorious and we recommend it for all those senior citizens who want to do something worthwhile with their retirement years, besides sitting around and discussing all their infirmities or their latest cruise or trip to fantasy land. Missionary work is definitely not for the feint of heart, but it will fill your heart with memories that are just as precious as the memories of your children and grandchildren growing up, and we are sure it will make us appreciate our family and our home a lot more when we return to our former life, which we are sure will never ever be the same, because after this experience we will always have the missionary attitude to motivate us to share the gospel with people who need and want the better life that the gospel of Jesus Christ offers.
In case anyone who cares is reading this, sister Willson and I will be returning to the United States, SLC airport sometime on the 25th of April, and this is causing us to be torn between extreme joy, and soulful sadness. We will survive and live to return to our mission for a visit in a few years.

Winding Down in Mexico

2009-02-06T17:25:00.016-06:00

Our district except for us at devotional

At the Temple in Secember.

Our District at devotional (front row)

Reading my poems (2) at the Christmas Devotional

The performers at Aztec Stadium.

One of our missionaries imitang his hero Dan Jones.

Picture with President and sister Nancolas.

Our zone in December 2008.

The Nancollas´s at the MTC

Presidents Monson & Eyring at Aztec Stadium

President Monson waves to the crowd

This is six Missions at Aztec Stadium. We´re the ones in the suits

Our zone at the Christmas Devotional

Elder Walker. playing for us at the Christmas devotional. He is our zone leader

We can hardly believe it when we look at the calendar and realize our time here is almost finished. Two years has passed us like a herd of gazelles, with a cheetah on their heels. We have been working hard and we have met and taught a lot of people, but there is so much more left to do. We will just have to continue when we get home to Logan. But first a little rest and recreation are needed, maybe a week or two fishing in Yellowstone, after we get the house set up again.
This has been a beautiful experience for us on so many different levels, and we have found so many new eternal friends. The lessons that this culture and people have taught us alone was worth any little bit of inconvenience or discomfort we have experienced, and actually we have been in the very best part of Mexico. There are other parts right here in this mission which are much more primitive; there are houses with no running water, no indoor plumbing, they have leaky roofs, and dirt floors, so we have been very fortunate.
Most of our family has absolutely no idea about how many things we Americans think are basic necessities, which in reality we can get along very nicely without. We have survived for two years without: drinkable tap water, 30 or 50 gallon hot water heaters, air-conditioning, forced air heating, wall to wall carpeting, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and dryers, dish washers, personal Internet connection, In a house that is about a third the size of our home, convenient shopping centers, personal transportation, television, movie theaters, and frequent recreational opportunities.
We walk daily on streets filled with cheerful people who work 10 to 12 hours a day six to seven days a week with one or two hours each way of commute time, and only receive four to eight hundred dollars a month. On top of that there is no such thing as free education for their children. If they want their children to have an education they must pay, and buy their children school uniforms. If they can’t afford school the kids stay home all day, many of them unsupervised, unless they have a grandmother who lives either with them or near by. How do they do it? I have no idea. They are very resourceful and they have a knack for making the most of every second of every day. They appreciate the simple things and they never give up hope for a better day.
In many ways Mexico has made us better people. We have more appreciation for the blessings of the gospel, and we have stronger testimonies of its truthfulness. We appreciate the blessings of living in a free country, and the abundance that we have become so accustomed to. We are the most grateful for our membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and our awareness of the necessity of sharing the message of the plan of salvation with everyone we meet. We love the Lord and His church. We love this opportunity we have had of serving Him by serving and teaching all the good people of Mexico City. When we think about the more than 50,000 missionaries serving in every part of the world, it gives us great joy to know that we have been a small part of this work and we hope and pray we will continue to be able to do a small part f this work for as long as we are able and God is willing to let us do it.
I didn’t mention in the last blog that we had a Christmas devotional at the temple grounds when the Mission President and his wife took our zone and two other zones for a temple session and a Christmas dinner in the Temple cafeteria. At the devotional which was announced a month in advance, we were given the opportunity to share a talent with all our missionary companions. I shared two of my poems with my mission companions and an America missionary, Elder Walker from Las Vegas translated for me. Sister Nancollas also asked us to send her all of our favorite missionary photos for her to make a CD to give to each of us as a souvenir of the mission. She only used one or two photos from each missionary, because this mission, the Mexico City North Mission has a little more than 200 missionaries. During the devotional she took additional pictures to include on the CD. She also shared the photos that we had sent to her at the devotional. The pictures I have included here are a few that I thought were especially good. There were 368 photos on the CD she gave us so I will only share a few of the best ones. Enjoy and we will share the rest when we return home in the spring.
We love you all, Bill & Marj; Mom and Dad, and Grandma and Grandpa.

Christmas in the Piñata Pueblo

2008-12-05T14:03:00.006-06:00

Well the people of Mexico are getting set for another Christmas. They actually start before Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving is actually an everyday occurrence here with no special day of recognition. When you ask a Mexican How they are they reply, “Muy bien gracias a Dios.” Which translate to, “very well thanks be to God.” During the Christmas season which starts the first week in November and continues on until the first week of January, concluding with the Day of Three Kings, there are many piñata parties so there is a high demand for piñatas.
Anyway, last year in our old neighborhood we only saw one Piñata get smacked, but we saw ten others go down at the ward Christmas party. This year in our new neighborhood, which is basically working class, self employed folk, many families make piñatas starting with the shell upon which they add brightly colored foil, and crepe paper in many different shapes, from Christmas trees to SpongeBob. We have seen Pooh Bear, Cinderella, Batman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Snow White, and just about any other fantasyland or action hero you can think of. They cost anywhere from $300 Mx pesos to $500 Mx pesos ($21AD – $35AD). The more expensive ones, besides being larger, are constructed on a clay pot. The less expensive ones have a paper machè body which is constructed over a balloon form, which is then deflated and used again. The smallest ones we have seen are about the size of a large hamburger, and the largest we have seen is about five or six feet in diameter. The elders tell us that they are building one about 15 feet in diameter in the next little colony.
We took these pictures on the way home from the church last week. We also decided to get into the spirit of Navidad ourselves this year so we stopped at the papelaria and purchased some things to decorate the house, and we also bought a nice poinsettia. The house looks very festive. Our little tree complete with lights is from Jessica and Levi last year.

The work of the mission is going very well. We have some very spiritual experiences to share with you all when we return. Almost every week we have a very special spiritual moment which is what fuels our engines and keeps us going. These experiences can be as simple as seeing someone we spoke with during the week, who hasn’t been to church in five or six years, come walking through the chapel doors, or witnessing the Holy Ghost influence someone who is struggling with the decision of when they will be ready for baptism, and the complete transformation of their countenance when they receive the witness and make the decision to fix a date.

Mexico City, Mexico Temple Rededication

2008-11-17T13:18:00.003-06:00

What a special privilege to participate in this historic event. A prophet of God came to visit the people of Mexico and to rededicate the Holy House of the Lord. This event, the Saturday evening cultural celebration, only lasted 3 hours, but months and months of work and preparation went into the planning and execution of this wonderfully blessed event.
The cultural celebration was massive with thousands of beautiful participants in handcrafted authentic costumes. It took place in the Aztec Stadium, the largest stadium in Mexico. The stadium was filled to near capacity with approximately 70,000 spectators. The event was free, but a ticket was required for entrance. Tickets were available at the churches in the area.
In addition to the actual performers there were about 1500 to 2000 missionaries who made a grand entrance and greeting to the host of admiring saints who absolutely love and adore the missionaries, many of whom are responsible for their family’s membership in the church. This was the finally or conclusion of the evenings display.
It was such a thrill and privilege to be numbered among those missionaries, and for us to actually be the very first missionaries to set foot on the floor of the arena. We stood in the midst of the huge throng of admiring saints and waved our white handkerchiefs, and waved, and waved, and waved, until I thought my arm was going to fall off, and then I kept on waving, and the crowd waved right back at us. We found out afterwards that our friends the Perez family whom we lived next to for the first year, took a video of this special moment for us and they will put it on a CD for us.
Sunday morning, we went to the actual rededication which was broadcast live via closed circuit TV channel to all the Stake Centers. A special ticket was required for this sacred solemn meeting which actually took place in the Celestial room of the temple. Presidents Monson and Eyring were there, dressed in white, along with the president of the temple, and the Area presidency. Those in attendance were Mission presidents, Stake presidents, Bishoprics and their wives. Almost all of the talks were in English and then interpreted in Spanish, so we were able to understand everything. I even understood most all of what was spoken in Spanish only. This is truly a blessing from the Lord. The most miraculous thing was what happened in our chapel where we were watching. There was a technical problem with the TV transmission. We were getting a perfect picture, but no sound. The person who usually does the technical support was not with us, and the brethren who were in charge did not know what was wrong or how to fix it. We watched the meeting commence in complete silence, and the people watching were in shock because they thought they would not be able to hear what was being said. This went on for 15 or 20 minutes of complete silence. At first I was mad, and I felt like I was being denied my first and only opportunity to witness such a sacred event. Mom said, “Be patient and have faith.” Then I began to offer up a sincere prayer that those who had been left in charge would somehow find the solution to the problem and we would be able to view and hear the remainder of the broadcast. I’m sure there were many sincere and humble prayers offered up from that chapel on this day. After a few minutes of a blank screen and no sound the picture came back on with beautiful clear sound, and President Mickelson of the Area Presidency was concluding his remarks. I offered up my gratitude and enjoyed the rest of this very beautiful and sacred meeting. President Eyring’s remarks were truly inspiring, and President Monson as always was magnificent. The one thing that President Monson said that will stay with me forever is. “God gives us flowers in June so that in our December years we will have beautiful memories.”
It was truly an incredible blessing to sit at the feet of a prophet and listen to him dedicate a Holy House of God, and to participate in the sacred Hosanna Shout and wave our white handkerchiefs, in sacred salutations to our Lord and King Jesus Christ.
Love to all Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Marj and Bill Willson

Mexico City Mexico Temple

2008-10-31T15:08:00.007-06:00

The temple has been open to the public for almost two weeks now. We got to work there for two days, about five hours at a whack. We worked in the tent at the end of the tour, handing out information to non members and inviting them to fill out a card with comments, and contact information if they were interested in learning more. We also invited them to sit down at a table and discuss questions and or doubts about the purpose of the temple and the church in general. We spoke with about two or three hundred people each on each of the two days of work. The second day we arrived early so we could take the tour ourselves. It was very beautiful inside, and after Saturday, when we took our first baptism with us, we were very glad, because there were over 10,000 people there, and we had to stand in line for over two hours, and the whole tour was only 15 minutes. They just basically walked everyone straight through with no stops for explanations or anything. Our convert, Eduardo, had many questions when we emerged, so we spent about an hour sitting with him in the tent talking. He said he wants to be able to return when it is opened after rededication. He said he wanted to be able to just sit and pray in the Celestial room. We will be taking Alma, Karen, and Aldo through tomorrow. We were able to take a few pictures while we were there, so I am including them in this blog. All the non members were very curious about the Angel (Moroni) at the top of the temple. And almost everyone asked what was he carrying in his left hand. So I included a picture of him as well. We are both well, but the four twelve plus hour days in a row, took a little snap out of our garters. We have spent a little more time than usual resting this week. Today is the thirty-first of October and it occurred to us that we only have six more months to go before we will be heading home. We are not getting trunkey, just a little tired and homesick. But we are quite sure this will pass, and next year we will probably be missing Mexico. Love to all. Grandpa and Grandma.

Tlacoyo (pickled pigs ears???) and the back foot of a cow

2008-09-20T13:18:00.002-05:00

We were treated to a typical Mexican Independence day feast, at two different houses. Tlacoyo was the best. It is an elliptical shaped blue flour tortilla folded double and stuffed with either cheese or refried beans and then garnished with nopales (diced cactus leaves with thorns shaved off)which are either cooked or pickled, cheese, meat, and salsa. They were very tasty, but not really our favorite thing in Mexican cuisine.
The other delicacy we tried was Tostada pata de res, we didn’t get a photo of this, but pata de res is the back foot of a cow, boiled, shredded, and cooked with onions and some spices. It is served cold on a tostada shell with cheese and salsa, It is very chewy, and reminded me of pickled octopus.

Cooking Essentials

2008-09-09T14:39:00.002-05:00

Just a little advanced announcement about an upcoming class beginning in May or June of 2009, for all domestic goddesses who want advanced training in the fine art of making sauces, salsas and guacamole- Mexican style.
This picture is of a gift from our district leader, elder McElvain. Its Mexican name is Tecolote y Molcajete or mortar and pestle (remember everything in the Spanish language is backwards).
Mom is picking up recipes whenever we eat with members. The essential tools for making these delicious concoctions are this stone ware for the kitchen. Mom will be practicing for the next eight months and will happily share her new found culinary wizardry with anyone who has a yen for authentic Mexican cuisine. We were thinking about buying one for ourselves, but Elder McElvain beat us to it. He said it was for all the nice things we have done for the Cuautitlan zone. It was an awfully thoughtful and sweet gesture on his part.
Elder McElvain is a tall, blond haired, blue eyed, elder from Centralia Washington. He reminds me a lot of Sean, and has similar interests as DJ and Sean; power lifting, wrestling and football. He’s only been on his mission for six months and he is a district leader already, just like Andrew. I think he will be a zone leader very soon. I am including a picture of Elder McElvain also.

Love to all, Dad and Mom,
Grandpa and Grandma

Loren and Jennifers Sealing

2008-09-07T11:31:00.003-05:00

Mom and Dad

Loren and Jennifer were sealed for Time and all Eternity on September 6th 2008 and then immediately sealed to their 4 children. It was a great day.

From our point of view her is how things went. Corinne and Preston and Danni and I got up at about 4 am and started getting ready for the trip. Prestona and Danni and stella stayed the night at our house so they would not have to get up at 3am. So the wheels were turning using Prestons car by 5am so we could get there by 9am which is when the temple wanted us to arrive.

Preston drive the first half and we changed positions at a truck stop just short of snowville and about then we got a call from Ruthie who was about 15 minutes behind us. I think Ruthie was a bit worried about cutting it close but in truth, as you know, if you make it to the temple even 10 minutes before a sealing you can still make it. We spoke back and forth over about 3 calls for the last hour just checking up on each other.

We arrived at the temple, going straigth to the temple, at about 910am. We were all dressed and simply went in. The Steevers has escorts helping them and those escorts found us. I went with Loren as he got dressed and we headed to the elevators when Loren was prepared and there met Corinne and Ruthie and Jennifer. I dont know how you could have had 3 more beautiful women all together. They were all just lovely.

We all got in the Elevator and Loren and Jen got off at the 2nd floor to go through the Vail together while I and Loren and a friend of Lorens who was also a witness, I believe his last name was Harris, went to the 3rd floor to sight the Wedding Certificate as witnesses. The sealer came and spoke to the two of us for a moment asking several questions about how Loren and Jennifer had gotten to this point over the past 20 years. He as a very nice man by the name of Brother Simmons.

Then Brother Harris and Brother Simmons and I went to a large and beautiful sealing room. There we were again met up with everyone including Danni and Preston and Jessica all of course looking as bright as a new penny. And there were 27 other people in attendance from the Steevers ward. It was a very good looking group and it was obvious that the Steevers are well loved in this ward. Additionally several people asked which girls were the WILLSON girls because they clearly were your friends and wanted to see your daughters. I remembered the names of Bishop Siler and his Wife as well as Hall Potter and his wife who all said to tell you his and send their love and support. Hals email by the way is Hal.Potter@usu.edu. He is interested in knowing your blog site if you willing to send it to him.

We settled in and waited for the Steevers to arrive and when they did they sat down and Brother Simmon closed the doors to the outside world and started speaking to all of us as well as them. He spoke a bit of the path that has brought them her and how that path was important only because it did bring them to the temple to have them sealed. He spoke about the covenants they had already made and went over all of them highlighting the 4 new covenants they each made in the temple. He spoke of the entire pland of salvation and how important families were. He encouraged them to return to the temple often and the do not only endowment work but to also visit and return to do work for sealings and inititories. He was a wonderful speaker and the spirit was very strong. He spoke very plainly and slowly but with a reverence and understanding the was great.

Then he invited Loren and Jen to the alter and I though he did a wonderful job and the two were sealed together. Both Loren and Jen seem so much brighter or cleaner of clearer or something. Its hard to describe, but they both love each other and it was evident to see. And they were both clearly very happy and moved by the sealing.

Then Loren and Jen stood up and Bro Simmon went and opened the doors to the sealing room and in walked Brandon, Amanda, Dustin, Michael, all dressed in white and all just glowing with fresh smiles and bright faces. They all walked in and each hugged each parent and it was very touching to see how much love they all have for each other and they were all moved as were all of us.

Then Brother Simmon again spoke but this time to the kids and told them what was going to take place and the importance of it. He spoke again of families and their eternal nature and he invited them all to again one day in the future to return to the temple. And then the whole family knelt together and were sealed for Time and all Eternity. Sealed I realized not just to each other but to all of. All of us in the family and all of us in that room. One family with one loving father. Loren and Jen being sealed together was great but this was awesome. It as very beautiful and very emotional. Then Brother Simmon had them stand and look in the mirror and said that looking the direction they were now looking could represent all of the time that had gone on before they had been sealed together as a family and how all of that had lead them here. Then he had them turn and look again at the other mirror and said that it could represent all of the future that was ahead of them as a family.

Following his remarks everyone was able to go and greet the family and we all moved outside and the Steevers were allowed outside for 15 minutes in white for pictures. Which if you look you will find posted here already. I dont see the video posted yet. It was on Lorens camera and I think we were having some connectivity challenges but I will have him mail it to me and I will get it posted here. As we were leaving the temple, Ruthies care would not start and we had to jump it then we went to Steevers.

Following pictures we all (Family and a few friends) went to the Steevers and they had cookies and chips and wraps and sandwiches and drinks for everyone and we all stayed for about an hour and half and then got ready to leave. But when Ruthie tried to leave her car would not start. So Preston borrowed Lorens meter and checked the battery and it was gone. Dead. So Loren took the battery out of Brandons car and gave it to Ruthie and during that time it turns out that the death of the battery was planned by God so that during the waiting time while were were messing with the battery, Billy could dirve by and see all of us and stop. So we all got to see Billy. It was great to see him, hes a great guy and everyone was so happy to see him. He as good fun. So everyone got to spend some time with Billy.

Then the car was fixed and we were all on the road again and basically everyone simply went home. It was another banner day for sure and I know that all of your daughters had both of you in their hears because all of them said so. In the temple Ruthie cried and cried and said that she felt she was there acting as Moms eyes so that she could see. And Corinne who is always a model of composure broke down and said it was very hard for her to see this done realizing how much you would want to be there knowing that if she had waited 20 years for her daughter to be sealed she would want to be there.

We love you all,
Cordell
Love Cordell

Jessicas Blog

2008-09-06T14:27:00.003-05:00

This is the corrected link for Levi and Jessicas blog. It has some great pictures from their live including some great pics from Colies wedding. www.leviandjessicaduckett.blogspot.com

We’re getting converted

2008-08-23T16:53:00.004-05:00

All the missionaries in Mexico city, plus the CCM. Sorry I could not get them all to smile at once, and some got left out of the picture.

We went to a Mexico City Mission Conference with all four missions, north south, east, and west plus all the missionaries in the CCM (MTC Mexico). All the five mission presidents were present with their wives and families and also the Area president and three 70’s including one of the presidents of the 70’s. All in all there were over 1,000 missionaries in attendance. Our main attraction was Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the twelve.

We were taught by Elder Holland about the changing emphasis of our work. The church wants us to be better missionaries to teach and convert better and stronger new members. Elder Holland said the most important convert we need to make is ourselves. The church can’t afford to lose one single missionary. When we go home we need to stay strong and not crash and burn. We need to tell people how the mission has changed or lives and we need to demonstrate how these changes have made us better members of the church. He said numbers of baptisms are not as important as new members who are truly converted and stay active after their missionaries leave. If your converts don’t stay active after you leave, then you might just as well baptize sacks of sand. We need to leave our area better than when we arrived in it.

He said the only way to do the work is His (the Savior’s) way. If it’s not His way, then it’s not his work. He admonished us to read and take to heart D&C Section 50: 15-22. Elder Holland encouraged us to be better and to give the very best that is in us to give for the rest of our mission. He also referred us to and we read from Helaman 5: 17-19 with his emphasis on preaching with power and authority.

All of this was for the purpose of instructing us on why “Preach my Gospel” was introduced into the missionary program of the church. I strongly recommend to all of my family to obtain personal copies of this powerful missionary manual to add to your scriptures, and read and study and pray over it as you study, that we may all follow the guidance of our prophets and become missionaries for the church. If the ancient prophecy of Daniel which says, “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet . . . and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, (Dan 2: 34-35)” is to be fulfilled then we all need to work as missionaries, and help find the people for the full time missionaries to teach. We also need to help teach and nurture all the new converts that come amongst us and help them to build strong testimonies and strong eternal families. Elder Holland said the church loves to see baptismal white, but what we really want to see is more Temple white.

It made us reflect on the recent Temple blessings that our own family has experienced in this past week, and we are so grateful for this. Of course we wanted with all our heart to be there with you, but more importantly we were so thankful for the blessings of two new eternal family units within the bosom of our own family. Families are forever and we want with all our hearts and souls to see each and every member of our eternal family attending the temple worthily. We want to be united as a family in Father’s kingdom in heaven and continue our association with each and every one of you forever.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures during the conference, but you all know what Elder Holland looks like anyway. I did snap a few pictures of the missionaries as they visited with one another in the parking lot at the temple after the meeting was adjourned. I wish now that I had taken a video. My camera is so new that I sometimes forget about its remarkable capabilities.

Love to all Grandma and grandpa

Rainy Season in Mexico

2008-08-08T13:45:00.004-05:00

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Approx. 51 miles per hour in 7 inches of water. Muy peligroso.

This is for all you doubters of the letters from mom that you will receive in the next 2 weeks or so. First let me explain, we do not work sick or in the rain, so today we had two good reasons to be at home. First we both have the runs, brought on by some 4 day old pork that smelled good and tasted good, but really tore thru us like a hurricane. While we were recuperating from our personal stormy weather, a real heavy rain storm hit. It was only one of several that we have had in the past week or so, and not the worst one either. One day it rained so hard that we could not hear a Seventy who was giving a training lesson to our zone, and we were less than ten feet away from him. Any way today’s storm filled a small bucket in our patio in less than 15 minutes and the water in front of our door came to within 2 or 3 inches of entering the house.
Mom talked about the crazy drivers in the rain storms, so I took these pictures to prove that she wasn’t exaggerating. The water in front of the car coming towards me is six inches deep or possibly more in places. I snapped the picture and in 1 second or less the tidal wave he was throwing up enveloped me from head to foot. Thank goodness my new camera wasn’t ruined. I calculated his speed at 51 MPH. It is a miracle that more people are not killed on the streets of Mexico City. The drivers are all crazy.
Meanwhile as I sit here typing the lightning is flashing and the thunder is rattling the windows and shaking the concrete walls. One lightning strike scared the bejeebers out of me. I saw the flash right over our patio, which is outside of the study, and instantly heard the very loud clash. I jumped about a foot out of my chair. It almost scared the crap right out of me. Really! But luckily there is none left. Mom’s feeling better too so don’t worry, just a simple case of food poisoning. STUFF HAPPENS!
Happy Birthday to Ruthie, we are looking forward to the next one by the pool in Boise. We will be with you all, in spirit, as you attend to these two very important events in our family history; the marriage and sealing of our third granddaughter and the endowment and sealing of our third daughter in the Logan Temple.
Love to all - Dad

PS: I am adding a picture of mom and the successful peanut butter cookies, adjusted for altitude.

Missionaries in a cactus patch

2008-08-04T12:43:00.004-05:00

We´re so happy.

There is plenty of room here in the cactus patch.

In Mexico the field is green and brown and ready to harvest...but we need help! Please send more Sr. missionary couples ASAP.

We’re Still Here

2008-07-22T15:06:00.012-05:00

Aguilar Familia. Edwin, Aurora and her parents.

A wonderful day. Note the halo over Aurora.

Elders McElvain and Sanchez and all of the rest of us.

Birthday smiles.

Troubador.

Dad with the Birthday girls.

Niko the watchdog.

More effective security.

We´re well covered.

It’s hard to find the words to express how we feel. We love this missionary work, and we miss our family, but we know of the two feelings the most important, right now, is the first. The time is passing so quickly, and we feel that we are progressing very slowly. Our very first baptism a year ago was a thrill, but we were only involved in the teaching in a very limited way. We found the couple, but the elders did most of the teaching, and all we were able to do was to bear our testimonies, and pass by each day to offer encouragement or leave off an article from the Ensign or a pamphlet. Now, almost a year to the day after I baptized Eduardo and his wife Angelica was baptized also, we witnessed the baptism of the mother of an inactive 14 year old young man who had been baptized by his grandfather six years ago. This young man, Edwin, has just recently received the priesthood of Aaron and was ordained to the office of a Teacher. He is progressing very nicely, and he wants to serve a mission. This summer he is going out on splits with the full time missionaries.

His mother was baptized by her father last Saturday, after we spent four weeks teaching her all by ourselves in Spanish. This is a major hurdle for us even though she had been taught by her father, she still had to be taught to seek for and find her own testimony of the truthfulness of the restoration. Her son Edwin was there with her when we taught, and he helped us when we got stuck with communication problems. He understands a little English and he helped us with our Spanish a little, but we basically taught her all the discussions on our own, and she passed the baptism questions with flying colors.

The work has its high points and low points, but it is all good. We are witnessing the growth of the church, in the fast growing part of the world. Last week the ward we served in for our first year, was joined back to its sister ward and the two were divided into three. This week the same thing happened in our present ward and its sister ward. We now have three wards in our chapel, and there are three wards in our old chapel. I feel certain that the Stake we are serving in will grow into two or three stakes in this next decade. Both chapels had just two wards each last year at this time.

The pictures are of the Aguilar family and the District leaders. All the elders in the zone were very happy that we had finally managed to find, teach, and baptize someone all on our own. We are happy too, but we feel that it has taken us too long to reach this level, and the time is passing far too quickly, Mom just celebrated her second birthday in the mission field, which means she won’t have another `til after we get home. I slipped in a few pictures of our little celebration, with some friends, the Garcia family, whose daughter turned sixteen on the 19th. They took us to a very fancy restaurant. I’m also including a picture of Niko a 3 month old watch dog they wanted to give us. We politely turned them down, and Michelle the birthday girl was secretly happy about that. Mom wanted a security door instead of Niko,I can’t imagine why. We had fun for an hour or so. Then off to the baptism of Aurora., which was a birthday treat for mom also; she loves Aurora.

We are grateful to God to be called to serve and grateful to all of our family at home for the privilege of serving in this mission. We feel that this mission is the best thing that we have done in the way of service in the church. We look forward to more success in finding, preaching, teaching, and baptizing those who have been prepared to receive of the fullness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we return home we hope it is with a feeling that we did the very best we were able to do, and that we found everyone we were sent her to find.
We have compiled a list of all the people in Mexico that we never want to forget, and presently it is more than a page long and by the end of our mission I’m sure it will be two or three pages. These people here will always be special to us.

We miss you all, and we are looking forward to next Memorial Day by Corinne and Cordell’s pool in Boise. No! We’re not TRUNKEY, just a little homesick.
Love Dad/Grandpa

Update from Mexico June 2008

2008-06-19T13:41:00.008-05:00

The Aguilar family

The water tower

Water tower again

Again

Dare to be different

The Aguilar´s - Grandma, Grandpa, Daughter Aurora, and Grandson Edwin

A wounded visitor to our house

Hi all,
We are doing well. This area is a lot tougher than the area we were in, but we have found that if we move forward in faith that the Lord will bless us and the Holy Ghost will lead us. Last week we found several of the inactive families that we were assigned to help return to church. We actually got two unordained young men to return to church and they were interviewed by the bishop, presented for advancement, and ordained. I got to ordain Edwin Aguilar, and we have an appointment to teach his non-member mom. After church on Father’s day we were invited by Sister Aurora Aguilar to eat dinner with her entire family. Her mother and father are members of the church. They went on a mission several years ago, and they have seen to it that two out of three of their grandchildren were baptized. Only one of their three children was baptized, the youngest. Edwin’s mom Aurora and the oldest son were not baptized, and Aurora’s oldest son Fernando was not baptized either.
Altogether we have found about nine people in this area who are possible candidates for baptism. We have found that there are only four really good days for us to, Wednesday – Saturday. This is because Sunday and Monday are our marathon days, and we don’t really get much more than studying, and a few pass-by visits just to check
I think we told you about the improvement in the water system here in this area. I’m sending a few photos of one of the water towers. Each of these towers serves two or three hundred houses. They are huge. I’m also including a picture of a wounded butterfly that we rescued fro the birds that were eating birdseed we put out for them each morning in front of our window. The butterfly died, but at least he died in dignity. We will try to bring him home with us. The other pictures are of the Aguilar family. I don’t know all of their names yet, but they are an awesome family and the patriarch told us that his house was our house. We will baptize his daughter and try to baptize his oldest son and his daughter Aurora.
We are currently in the middle of the rainy season. It rains almost every day. The rain is usually so hard that an umbrella is not much protection, so we get home as fast as we can once it starts. We won’t melt, but walking in the rain is dangerous, because of the creative electrical services here. Sometimes electric wires are on the ground or sidewalk, and the wires are worn and bare. If you step into a puddle of water with a bare wire hidden in it, it could be a shocking experience. One of our elders found this out the hard way. He lived through it but it definitely got his attention. If I get a chance I’ll try to get some pictures of the Mexican wiring nightmares. This is a very interesting country and culture.
We love you all, and we pray for you all every single day. Please have a group hug for us every time you are together.
All our love, hugs and kisses, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.

Rich Family Update

2008-06-08T16:31:00.003-05:00

A Few things to update. Seans Graduation, My Dads Heart Issue and life.

Corinne and I went to Wyoming. My Dad, Rex had a major Heart issue, but he is fine. He went into Afib and lived. When he got to the hospital 2 and 1/2 hours after he first noticed a problem his heart rate was 256 beats per second. The heart doctor who saw him said he should have died in the field. The ER staff said that he walked in under his own power and climed on the bed and the Doc said BS thats not possible. They said they needed to shock him to get his heart rate down and he said to go ahead and the told him they would have to put his to sleep first and he asked why. They said it would hurt like hell. So they put him to sleep immediately and the shocked him. Kelly said he came 8 inches off the table when they did it and his heart rate according to the monitor went immediatly to a flatline for about 1/2 a second the went to a normal beat and he was basically good after that.

It is a long story but here are the major details. He was outside working on a used car he bought and started to feel dizzy. He laid down on the ground and realized he was in trouble. He laided they quite a while and said all he could think about was that the cell phone was in his turck just 10 feet away and that he couldnt get there and was going to died because he couldnt go 10 feet. He eventually go up and crawled to the truck and called Mom. He told her that he was no BS in trouble and that he thought he needed to get to the hospital but that he wanted to wait and that he would call her in an hour and let her know. She was at work at the resturant and said she would call back. But got busy and never did. You know how bull headed he is. He made it back to the house and he sat on his chair and basically went blind (from which is now ok) and at some point Kennys son Colt came to see him and found him in his chair gray and not acting right. Dad wouldnt let Colt call 911 so Colt called his mom Cherry and cherry came over and immediately knew he was in trouble. Same thing dad wouldnt let her call 911 so she called Cheryl Kellys Wife at the bank and Cheryl called Kelly. Kelly immediately went over and found Dad in bad condition. Kelly and Colt got dad to the truck and raced Him to the hosptial. Then Kelly sent Cheryl to get His Wife Luane. It had been over 3 hours since Rex first called. Mom asked if it was bad and if she needed to get over to the hospital and the doc said yes and you need to get here right now. The Doc said My dad should have died immediately in the barnyard and that he must have the strongest heart of anyone he has ever heard of to keep on going. Of course Rex is mad as hell that he didnt die. But he seems to be doing good. Doc Perks told dad a story about a 94 year old guy that saved himself from dying and Doc Perks told the guy that when you get to about 90 years old if you get a good chance to die you should take it. But its not dads time yet.

My dad called me every other day this week to tell me hes not dead yet.

Sean Graduated from High School and is a free man. It was tough and go for a while. about three weeks prior to gratudation 5 of his teachers calle us in for a conference and told us that the was in trouble. Two of them said they didnt think he would be able to do enough catch up to graduate but to his credit he worked like a slave and made it. He actually turned in the last late assignement of the final day of school to put him to a passing grade.

Then at graduation we got a suprise. He was one of the Graduating speakers. We didnt even know it was going to happen. As the teachers and staff etc went on stage to sit down Sean went up with them and sat with them along with 2 other students and the rest of the students sat in another place. So Sean spoke and did a good job. He introduced other speakers and spoke himself. I guess the class had a vote and voted on which 3 kids they wanted to hear from and Sean was one of them. He did a good job then in the end said. "Tonight were having a final party and I want everyone to come. This might be the last time we will ever be all together so everyone show up and please follow all Federal State and Local Laws." Then he sat down. That was how he ended his talk. It was pretty good.

Its Sunday and Im looking forward to dinner. For the past few months The Bushes and the Riches have been taking turns having lunch at each others homes and today it at the Bushes but the Steevers will also be there. They are in the Valley putting and HVAC unit it so they are going to be there for dinner. It will be great to see all of them again.

More later,
Love Cordell

The new neighborhood

2008-05-31T17:04:00.019-05:00

Local shops

What do you need?

Vegetables or fruit?

Tortillas?

Salsa?

Fresh, raw chicken with flies?

Unrefrigerated carne under the towel?

Ummmm...roasted chicken

Pizza or plumbing supplies?

More fruits and vegies.

More shops...

Lunch for 2?...no way!

Here are just a few pictures of our new neighbor hood, which is only one of about 50 colonies in our new area. This area is much larger than our old one. I’m guessing it at about 9 miles by 14 miles. Maps here are hard to get, and very inaccurate. I had to blow one up and I’m not too sure about the scale or the direction. All I know is that we are in Rancho Santa Elena, which is part of Mexico City, Mexico. It’s not really a ranch but I have seen sheep, cattle, and chickens, tons of dogs and a horse or two.

One thing I forgot to mention, the water system here is different. We no longer have a tank on top of our house that might get filled every day. Instead, we have a HUGE tower in the middle of the colony filled with water. How it gets there and where it comes from I don´t know. But, there is plenty of pressure and as far as I know we never run out....yet. I´ll send a picture when I get the chance.

By the way, if you already have or are going to take, whenever it happens, We would love to see some more photos of the family, you know graduations engagements, new grandbabies, and that sort of stuff. ????? Some news wouldn’t be too bad either. Thank you to Cordell for your recent comments, and Posts to the blog are always welcome.
We are not breaking any mission rules for senior missionaries here. We’re allowed a little more freedom than our younger counterparts.
Love, Elder and Hermana Willson, otherwise known as Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.

Promised phots of our new digs

2008-05-28T11:34:00.020-05:00

Enjoy...we really like the new area and our house.

Ari and Mom with new baby with no name

Dad and the baby

Fresh tortillas.

¨Fresh¨ chicken complete with flies.

Roasting chickens

Bicitaxi...cheap ride.

more...

Companions forever!

Junta on Monday

Just a little shopping...please?

Living/dining rooms

Kitchen

I made the drapes

30 dozen cookies, gone in 30 seconds!

Decorating

Front of house.

Great tree.

Mom with roses.

more decorating.

Moving on

2008-05-24T20:28:00.002-05:00

It was a monumental struggle but we are finally moved and the place will be very comfortable for us for the rest of our time in Mexico. We get a new Mission President in July and I’m going to let him know right off the bat, in our first interview, how I feel about moving. This is a big area, and there is way more work to do here than we could possibly do even if we had our whole two years left. We tried to put in movies but it takes way too long to load them. We will send pictures next time.
I hate moving. I think I have moved from one place to another more than 60 times in my lifetime. Marjie and I had moved 13 times during our married life together before our mission. Since we have been in the mission field we have lived in four different places counting the MTC. I hope this is the last time we move until we move back home at the end of our mission. We have learned that the usual plan is to have the senior missionaries stay in one ward or area for about a year and then move to another ward or area. We had to move after the first two months in our first area because the first house we were in had a leaky roof and it was developing a substantial amount of mold. We only moved over one street, in fact the two houses were adjoining back to back on different streets.
We were in that second house for ten months, when the owner suddenly told us that for some sort of legal reason they needed to move back into their house. Now we have moved and we have spent the last week either getting ready to move, actually moving, or unpacking our things and getting settled. This new location is a very large area. The house is much smaller but it is very nice. We have had to make a few modifications, like towel racks, toilet paper holders and drapes for the windows. The big difference is that the house was completely empty when we arrived, no furniture except for a stove, it is two stories, and we only have houses on either side of us, no one underneath or above. The other thing is that we are on a very busy through street, not like the other house on a gated private court. We also have 1-1/2 bathrooms and constant automatic hot water in the shower and in all three sinks. We have a very large shade tree in our front yard, and that really helps to keep us cool, because the sun is very hot during the day, and a bit of shade makes a big difference at this altitude (7,000 ft.) This new area is very much private enterprise, with a lot of little stores, shops and services. There are very few large chain type stores or businesses. It will be more expensive for taxi service here. We have been spending, on average five or six dollars a week for taxies. Now we will have to spend twice that amount once a week just to get to and from our zone meeting. We could ride the combies, (mini busses) but every time we do that we end up with back, shoulder and neck pain from the jerking around we experience in these vehicles. The drivers in Mexico are all loco.
This new area has not been tracted for a very long time, and it is huge (50 to 100 thousand people). There are two sets of young missionaries working in the area, one for each ward but they have been trailing the zone in the baptism rate for quite awhile. We are going to start out with a list of the ward members and start hitting the homes where there either is no priesthood, or the priesthood holders are not advancing beyond Aaronic, indicating inconsistent activity. We also have a lot of families with children who are as yet not baptized, and new members, one year or less, that are not sealed in temple or preparing for temple endowment. There is a lot of work to do here. I think the root of the inactivity problem is the complete lack of Home teaching and visiting teaching. Along with that there is very little fellowshipping going on.
Our first day in our new house, President Castillo and his wife came for their regular visit in the home of each of the companionships; President Castillo said for us to just keep on doing what we are doing, and he knew we would get some results.
On our first Sunday in the ward, we found out that there are about 750 members, but there were less than 100 in attendance. This is sad. The ward is suffering because of this. There was only one young priesthood holder attending to the sacrament, the rest were adults. These faithful members need to be taught to reach out to their less active brethren if they want help in dong the Lord’s work.
Monday after zone meeting we walked around a little, we visited the Internet store, spoke to a few shop owners, purchased a few small items for the kitchen, and got acquainted with the ice-cream store owners. The son of the proprietor speaks very good English; we learned that his older sister teaches English in the Mexican schools. We invited them to church, and I think we could possibly teach them and convert them. Of course we think that about 75% of the people we meet on the streets.
After we get settled in this week we will spend some time getting used to the neighborhood, and letting people get used to seeing us around. We will also spend a significant amount of time pouring over the roster and compiling lists of people we need to see, and organizing them in to smaller areas for us to work in. We want to take some pictures, of this new neighborhood, and yet not look like tourists. That is kind of hard to do, but we will give it a try. If I get some good ones I’ll post them along on the next blog.
It is sort of hard for us to believe that our first year in the mission field is already gone, and we just barely get by with the language. These young missionaries, some of which have only been here less than six months, speak just like Mexicans. Of course we have to keep reminding ourselves that they have been living 24/7 with a native speaker from day one. I think the language issue is the biggest obstacle to overcome in a foreign mission. Sometimes I find myself wishing that I were serving in Kansas. Then I remember all the people whose lives we have touched and changed for the better and I realize the Lord sent us where He wanted us to be. He will help us to find and communicate with the ones He has prepared to receive the gospel.
Missionary work with your eternal companion is an amazing adventure and an experience that we will always cherish and never forget. We have made so many wonderful new friends and people that we have either adopted or who have adopted us that we fear it will really be difficult to return home. We hope that in a few years after our return we will be able to take a short trip and revisit this place. We have also invited several families to visit us if they ever come to the U.S...
We have discussed the possibility of doing this all over again, but we have decided that would just be too hard on the family, and also too hard on us. We will do the rest of our missionary work at home amongst the Mexican people who live in our Region.
I hope to be able to complete and polish the books I have already written, and also the two new ones I have commenced while I’ve been serving here. I truly want to be published before I die and even if I’m not I will try to write something every day as long as I’m able to sit up to the keyboard and put down a string of intelligible words. This is what I do, and this it what makes me happy, the only things that make me happier are my wife, and my family.
Well this is about enough for now, I’m sorry if I’ve bored anyone with my rambling, but you will all understand when it comes your time in life to ramble. I guess this is what we do when we get old, and today I feel old.
We love you all so very much, and we miss you every day, but we wouldn’t change this experience for anything in the world.

2008-04-28T12:02:00.003-05:00

The HP camera received a proper funeral and has been replaced. Hope you enjoy Dad´s first screen test.
Love to all
dadandmom

Update from Mexico

2008-04-23T12:06:00.007-05:00

4/19/08, This is the Ramirez Family with us.

Julio, Salvador and Linda

Mom and a jacaranda tree

Dad and the jacaranda tree

The jacaranda tree. Those are the tiendas

in the background. We will send more pics when they are
open.

We can’t believe it’s been a month since our last update. Easter seems like it was just yesterday, and yet so much has happened we can scarcely remember it all. Where to start? Right after Easter we were given the assignment to look for less active, inactive, or new members that have not progressed, because of less activity or inconsistency in their attendance.
This work is very time consuming, but much more fruitful. After we got our list organized and began our search we found a family with an inactive father and a non-member wife and an eight year old son. The man invited us in without any hesitation at all, and we gave his wife and son the first discussion, a book of Mormon and the restoration pamphlet. Within one week they were ready for baptism. We thought that the father could do the baptism, but after an interview with the bishop I ended up baptizing the mother and the son. The family is happy, and already talking about the temple. They are going to be such a strong family in the church. Julio, the father, is a retired policeman who acted as a body guard for some important people. He is also a marshal arts master instructor and he has met Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. Linda his wife is very much into music and she has a long time friend who sings, and writes his own music and he accompanies himself on the guitar. Their eight year old son is very bright; he has memorized the Ten Commandments and is working on the Articles of Faith. They are a delight to work with and teach. The very interesting thing about this conversion/reactivation story is, that we learned the first time we returned to their door with the elders, that the elders had knocked on that door about two or three weeks before we did and were politely turned away. I think this experience taught the young zone leaders a lesson about the special influence that a senior missionary couple can have on the people that God has prepared to hear His message. The pictures of this family Ramirez are included with the other pictures we are posting this time.
The tree with the blue or lavender blossoms is a Jacaranda (hackaranda) tree we did not even notice until this time of year. I guess it was finished blooming by mid-May, which is when we arrived. Anyway, there are a lot of them around and they are spectacular. This particular one is very small compared to the others we see. It is near our house so we decided to sneak out early one evening after our work was finished for the day and take a few pictures. When I get my camera fixed I will take a lot more pictures of all the beautiful flowering trees that are in bloom in the spring. We have some very amazing and large Bougainvilleas, Roses, Poinsettias and many other beautiful flowers, trees, and shrubs that I don’t know the names of. If my camera were working and we had a little more time I would send you a complete gallery of these beautiful examples of God’s creative ability. In addition at this time of year we have an abundance of very sweet and delicious seedless watermelon ($.05/kg.) Papaya, Strawberries, melons, mangos, apples, oranges, and every kind and variety of fresh produce for making salads, and it is all just as ridiculously cheap.
FYI here are some other peculiarities I have neglected to tell you about Mexico. First of all, the Autopista (freeway) does not have the cloverleafs we are used to seeing. The lanes of opposite bound traffic are separated by a raised median strip with high curbs and landscaping. No left turns are allowed on all the main thoroughfares if you want to get off you merge right, and if you want to change directions you have to get into the left lane and make a U turn thru a special U turn lane thru the island and then go back to where your left turn would have been and turn right. On the Autopista and other major roads the raised median strips are very wide (@50 ft.), but on the access roads to colonies the raised median is only about 4 to 5 ft. wide, and some left turns are allowed.
The second really interesting thing is all the old outdated automobile models, like the Chevelles, Dodge Spirits and old style VW Beetle’s and the old VW vans, have somehow found their way to Mexico. There are literally thousands of them and they are all still running strong. I’ve also seen old (1941-1947) ford trucks and a pink 1947 4 door Plymouth. Last year in the fall they had a vintage Rolls Royce on display and offered for rent on special occasions. Mom and I joked about renting it along with a chauffer /bodyguard to see Mexico on our way back to the states.
The work is going well the record for baptisms in March for the Mexico City North mission was broken, with nearly 700. I don’t know how the other three parts of the Mexico City mission did but Mexico City had to finish off the month with well over two thousand baptisms. Just to be a very small part of this great work is a privilege and a thrill. This is by far the most exciting part of our retired life together, so far.
This first year has passed by far too quickly, and if the next year goes as fast, we will be home before we know it, We will be moving to a new area as soon as they find us a suitable house to live in, The good news is we will be staying in the same Stake and zone so we will have familiar people around us and also we will be close enough to our new members and families that we have grown to love that we will be able to keep an eye on them and know how they are doing.
Life is good, the gospel is true, families can be together forever, God loves all his children, and we love all of you. Please do us a favor, the next time you are all together, have a group hug, and think about us.
Love, Grandpa and Grandma.

More From Andrew

2008-04-11T10:10:00.002-05:00

Editoral Note, The following is from a letter from Andrew. We also got a hard copy letter from Andrew which was great. He said in his letter that he is up to 170 pounds. His first two Companions have both been weight lifters and he is apparently very consistant with his daily exercise. For the year prior to his mission he weighed himself to see if he was over 155 and he stayed at 155 or less for a year. so that was interesting. So heres the most recent from Andrew.

Hey mom and dad.

How are you? I’m doing really well. Stacy and mike are doing awesome. We met with them yesterday and told them that they needed to be married. They actually took it really well. They said that they have been thinking about being married for a long time and now I think we might be that nudge that they need to tie the knot. So hopefully soon we will have to help plan a marriage. And what else is really cool is that they also want to be married in the salt lake temple. When that happens I would probably be off my mission and they said that they would invite me. How awesome would that be?

Not a ton else is happening right now. We ended up not being allowed to go to the science center last week. The AP’s gave us permission to leave the zone before they checked with Pres. Francis. So when we were on the way we got a call telling us we couldn’t go. So last p-day really sucked. But today should be better we are going golfing. That will be really fun. We are going with some members. Oh and I took twenty dollars out of my account. Sorry about that, I didn’t budget my money the best. I won’t do that any more.

So dad you said that the picture card thing for my camera has gone missing. Do you still have the pictures that were on there? It cool that you guys are getting to clean up the yard. Do you think that all the remodeling and stuff you guys are thinking about doing will be done before I get home? If it is I would like pictures of al of it.

Well I love you all and I’ll write on Monday. And I did get that package you sent. Thank you very much the little chicken in the eggs things were pretty cool. I gave one to Buckway and we grew them separate. We still have them in water. And they are still getting bigger. They are pretty fun. And sister Bruwster sent me a package with a ton of candy in it. I’m going to write her a thank you card but I thought that was really cool. Andrew

Easter in Mexiico

2008-03-24T14:25:00.002-06:00

Angeles and Us. Baptized the week before Easter

Angeles, Elder Flores and Elder Mortensen

Easter is a very different experience from what we are used to in the states. It is a very serious holiday, which is the culmination of the Lenten period. The whole week from Monday to Sunday is designated “Semana Santa” (Holy Week). Each day is Holy. There are no decorations in the stores, and no commercialism connected to Easter. A lot of people go on vacation, and business comes to a halt. The big stores stay open, but most small businesses shut down. There are many public displays and pageants and processions. Men punish themselves by whipping themselves until the bleed; they also carry heavy planks or cactus on their shoulders and people make and sell crowns of thorns for the sinners to wear while they parade themselves down the street. Some men have themselves tied to crosses or even nailed for three hours. There is a competition among some men to be chosen as the Christ for the local Passion Play. Some people crawl dragging a burden of some sort all the way to the church.
We saw some television shows that document this sort of celebrations and some of them went into the Churches. We saw the extravagant real gold decorations, artwork candles, and crucifixes. Some of the gold artwork was quite spectacular. We saw every phase of the Saviors last week reenacted. Some of it was quite brutal. Saturday and Sunday were quiet in the neighborhoods, except for occasional eruptions of cannon fire.
Our church services were different than we are used to also. There were no flowers, no special program from the Primary children. We saw a video in Sunday School that depicted the life and death of Christ, but I was surprised at how violent it was, and also that the end depicted the resurrection simple as the fact of the empty tomb, without the showing of the resurrected, glorified Savior.
We go to both wards in our building, the first ward, which is the more wealthy part of town, was very poorly attended, with at most two thirds, or less, of the active members present. The other ward which is more or less the working class or self employed members had an above average attendance. Both wards had the themes for talks directed toward the Savior and his mission here on earth, His death, resurrection and appearance to the Nephites here in America.
We were discussing the season with our neighbors, and they asked, “What is it about the Easter Bunny and colored eggs and candy?” To which we replied, “It’s a celebration of the sweetness and beauty of life.” I really don’t know what the Easter Bunny represents, or how he got into the celebration, but I know his presence brings a lot of sweetness to the occasion, and the eggs remind us all of the hope for new life.
All in all my feelings and emotions this Easter season are very different from those I am used to at home. The message I received is that Christ suffered and died for me and for my sins, and for the sins of all mankind. The message I’m used to is that Christ is resurrected and lives for me, and because of this all mankind will be resurrected and live. I guess I just don’t feel comfortable seeing and being reminded of all the suffering. I prefer the living resurrected Lord to the suffering dying Lord. Both messages are true, I guess it’s just a matter of perspective and what it is we care to focus on.

Andrews Most Recent Letter

2008-03-13T15:36:00.001-06:00

Hi mom and dad.Thanks for your emails. And yes I got the letter about the PEC meetings. Thank you for your input. And I got the forty dollars that will be nice for me.

We haven’t met up with Sara again yet but we will eventually. I have faith she will make the right decision.So elder Hill got transferred to Olean New York. He didn’t want to go to a small town area and Olean is about a small town as you can get. Oh well I think it will be good for him to get used to a different style of living and missionary work. I was sad to see him go but happy for a change at the same time.

My new companion is Elder Buckway. He’s a great guy. He served as fleet coordinator in the office for 10 months. He worked with president and was in charge of all the cars in the mission. He did great in there and got special recognition for salt lake because of how good he did at saving the mission money and taking care of the cars. He’s been out for 20 months. And he’s driven all over western PA a lot. He’s senior drive and senior companion. So mom you don’t need to worry about our driving. He’s really good at it and he’s had to deal with all of the wreck that missionaries get into for the past ten months so he knows what not to do.

He’s awesome. A fun guy and he is clean. We spent all morning just cleaning the apartment really well. And he’s not stingy about fixing the apartment when stuff happens to it like when a light goes out or we need something. He knows how the office works and knows everyone in the office so we are going to get all of the hook ups. Like a new lamp and a new box spring for me. There isn’t anything wrong with it it’s just old and squeaks when I move at night.

Our first night tracting together we got invited to go fishing with a black guy named woody and we also got invited into a house and antied for an hour. The anti guy was nice just miss guided. We bore testimony and left. That happens a lot in PA. People are dumb. We also met the bishop and elder Buckway said that he received the warmer welcome here than in any other area in his whole mission. So we are getting along great and having fun.

The receipt thing is the only real thing that I can think of that would be nice. Chinese chicken salad sounds delicious right now. So if you guys could get me recipes that would be awesome. And my cloths are holding out great and I’m doing good on money so don’t worry about me and thank you for all of your support and prayers.Love you lots and look forward to hearing from you.

Elder Andrew Rich

Solo Hazlo! (Just Do It!)

2008-03-05T12:19:00.005-06:00

Breakfast for 18 please...

Elder Kneisly from South Carolina. God be with you

till we meet again.

Mom loves the Primary President, Anna.

The Vasquez family, 3/2/08. Victor in front,
Guadalupe, Janette and Israel.

What? Do What? Just knock on the next door and finish tracting this street. Don’t stew over all the people that say, they are too busy, or another time, or I work 24 hours a day 7even days a week and I only come home to eat. If they only knew what we have to offer them they would be lined up at our door to knock. We can’t find a willing investigator behind every door, but there are many who have been prepared to hear, and when we find someone, the joy of sharing what we have with them is worth every hour of frustration and discouragement we experience. To see the beautiful transformation from suspicious skepticism, to curiosity, to genuine interest, to conviction, to joy, to conversion and real commitment, is a marvelous thing to behold. We moved into a new part of our area around the first of February, and we started tracting. Before we made the change we spent some time walking through different parts of the area. When we chose this particular part, we told the zone leaders of our plans, and they told us don’t bother with that part of your area. They said, “it’s old and has been tracted out many times.” We had heard that before, and we decided to give it a try anyway. Now after a month’s time we have found 4 new converts and several very promising new investigators. We feel confident that before too long we will have five or maybe even ten more new converts from just the first three streets of an area that is at least ten times larger than our own neighborhood where we found 9 or 10 converts. Now the same elders, who told us not to bother, are working the area too.
Since we have been here in Mexico we have changed the lives of twenty people, and touched the lives of many others. When I think about the impact for good that these changes will make in the eternal lives of generations past, present and future, it makes me realize what an important decision it is to decide to go on a mission ands actually turn in the papers to the church missionary department. We are so glad we decided to do this before we got too old to really do some good.
We are including the pictures of the family we baptized on the second of March. This family is the fruit of knocking on about 300 doors, and within that number of doors there is a potential for at least five or ten more baptisms. This work is a very therapeutic youthening labor, and it goes past so quickly. We know we will have many fond memories of these two years to share with our families and friends, for many years to come, and in the eternities.
The other picture is of our zone elders who all came to breakfast on Monday. We served them (all in our apartment at once) 5 dozen eggs, 7 pounds of chorizo, 75 slices of French toast, 3 gallons of milk, a watermelon, and grapes. Then we went out and followed up on some earlier contacts, taught some lessons, attended a family home evening in the home of a less active family, and came home to do dishes. We finally collapsed into our bed at midnight. We love this work.

The work goes on in Mexico

2008-02-05T14:38:00.000-06:00

This is Maria Escoba. She is about 70 years old, we are not sure. She cannot see very well, but she still works, lives alone and takes care of herself. We tracted into her several months ago and she wasn´t interested. However, our security guard, who is a member of the church, gave her a blessing and she asked him how to learn more. We taught her, with the help of the Elders. She was ready for a change and her only question was, "How much does it cost to be a member of the church?" We taught her about tithing and fast offerings, the Articles of Faith and when we challenged her to be baptized she accepted. She is so tiny. All the little kids over 8 years love to be seen with her because she is so little. We just love her!

Hope all is well on the homefront.

Much love to all...

dadandmom

We’re still here, in Mexico

2008-01-15T11:52:00.000-06:00

The holidays are over, we think, but we heard a Christmas carol at the shopping center today. We are back to work, and the work, and our zone celebrated this weekend with a small baptismal service right after Stake Conference. We have five new members in our ward who will be confirmed next Sunday. I got to baptize one of them, Oscar Ivan Saldana Gonzales. He is a nice 27 year old man with two children 4 & 6. He wants to baptize their mother and get married in the temple. They are separated right now. We are including the baptism photos in this blog. So far in our 8 plus months we have been involved in finding, teaching and baptizing 15 people, and we have 7 more hopefuls that we are working on. We try to visit with Rodolfo and Martin at least once a week, and encourage them to make the next step towards baptism; they just have a few little details to take care of. We love this work. It is truly incredible to see the change that comes over people when they receive a testimony and enter the waters of baptism.
We have moved our tracting over across the main street into a large area of single family dwellings. They are two stories similar to ours but each house has two floors. We love this because we don’t have any stairs to climb.
It hasn’t rained here in three or four weeks and as a result the water delivery system is a little bit miserly. We have run out of water three times in the last two weeks. We have water to drink of course, because we buy that, but the bathing, flushing, and dishwashing water is scarce.
Thanks to Cordell we got to see some great photos of the family this week. They are of Halloween, and various candid shots of the family. We enjoy sharing in the family gatherings and special events. We hope we will see some baptism photos of Josie and DJ, and more of the family having fun together.
We were asked to keep an elder with us for a couple of days, just during the day time when the office staff had some special meetings. He has just recently been diagnosed with diabetes, and he has to take it a little bit easy while they get his blood sugar levels stabilized. He was able to help us a bit with our Spanish, and also talk to a couple of our contacts and set up appointments.
We will look forward to seeing some more posts from anyone who has the time and or feels the urge. We love you all and we appreciate all your prayers and support for this work. The gospel is true, and God’s church has been restored to the earth for the last time in these last days. Families can be forever and we are all immortal and can have, through faith in Jesus Christ, eternal life. It’s our choice.
Love to all Grandma and Grandpa / mom and Dad.

PS
The blog isn't accepting photos right now, I´ll add later.

New Photos

2008-01-12T22:30:00.001-06:00

Mom And Dad

Colie let me use her computer to surf the net and she let me take some of her pictures from her hard drive and add them to the picture album.

I got your email and was not sure what you wanted me to do. Do you want me to take the pictures you posted to you blog and move them to the picture album?

Things here are going well. Its a Saturday night and Corinne and I are hanging out with the Bushes. Some are watching a video (A Knights Tale) some of making a blanket (Jamie and Colie with my supervision) and others are doing whatever.

Im glad Andrew is emailing you and Im glad your posting his letter on this blog. Its interesting that he sends things to you that are completely different from what we see from him so its kind of cool.

Cordell

New (some old, but recently released) Pictures from Mexico

2008-01-05T12:34:00.000-06:00

Sanchez family Baptism 10-28-07

Aldo´s Baptism, 10-27-07

Dad and Aldo

Roquie and Gabby, New Year´s Eve FHE

Mom, Luci´s mom, David, Luci

Family Home Evening House Building

Familia Perez and our gingerbread houses

Roquie decorated Gabby

Mom and Daughter Luci

Let the decorating begin.....ooops!

Gotcha back!

The Familia Perez

Leilani Flores at Family Home Evening in November

Dad, a really bad picture of Mom with Ezra Flores at FHE

It was Ezra´s birthday too.

Dad and Mom with the three kings, 1/4/08

Here are the pictures that were trapped in my camera until I received the driver that was lost during a technical adjustment or whatever.
We had a very festive Holiday season, and we ate way too much, as you may be able to detect we both put back several unwanted pounds, but we have the hot summer months to look forward to and literally thousands of doors to knock on. We are hoping to lose those Holiday pounds along with at least 20 more 8-). We love you all and would love to see some of your Christmas photos and or other interesting photos here on this blog. We would also love to see a photo or two of the newly weds shoveling poop together at their ranchero vaca , and the other newly weds new house, and speaking of new houses we would like to see at least one photo of The new Bush residence, other than the Real-estate listing.
Oh … I almost forgot this interesting cultural note. Mexican cuisine is noted for its picante quality or characteristics, Right? Well here’s one for the book. Two little known facts which I have just learned:
Ø Pepper is only used or available in the finest restaurants or by the rich people. Some Mexican people do not even know what it is or where it comes from, and yet the pepper tree is the most abundant and common tree around. If the poorest Mexican only knew that the little red berries on these trees was in fact pepper, they could harvest all the pepper they could ever want.
Ø Cinnamon candy is much too picante, for the average Mexican palate, they would much prefer fruit, candy and even watermelon and ice cream liberally sprinkled with chili powder.
Ø This has nothing to do about eating, but we just figured this one out on the way over here this morning. We have been noticing the last few days a lot of helium balloons for sale on the streets. They had pictures of the 3 Reyes de Mago. Then we saw some of these floating heavenward with notes attached. We asked and were told that the children send their list of desires to the 3 kings in this way, and they do it the day before they come.
Anyway enjoy the pictures. We love you all and miss you very much, but we know that every day when we wake up that we are where the Lord wants us to be. We love Mexico, the people we serve, the missionary experience, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The church is true, and families can be forever.
With love from Mexico, Mom and Dad

From Andrew..the latest

2008-01-04T15:34:00.000-06:00

Date:
01/04/08 04:09 pm
Subject:
hi again
Attachments:
Hi Grandpa and Grandma,
thanks for your email. i really like to hear from you. i was wondering some things about senior cupouls. like what are the diffrent rules for you. i heard youu can whatch tv and read fun stuff and have a computer. is that stuff true or is it just the older elders pulling the greenies leg. like did you get to read the last harry potter book? do you get to go see movies. i was just wondering about thatAll that stuff about you mission is really cool. a 1000 baptism a month. that crazy. really cool but crazy. our mission goal for 2008 is 300. they must have to have a font ready like every day of the week. how the laguage coming? are you fluent yet? have you eaten anything really cool or really spicy? what mexico like? do you eat with the members often? What do they feed you? Ive already had some intressting food. like stuff bannana peppers they were stuffed with lamb. it was really good but really spicy. that was from Butch Kucken. he a really cool guy. he almost became a jewish rabbie but stopped when he found out about the restorred gospel. he's a jew by ethnicity. he even wears a yamaca to church. he's really fun to talk with. he was recently reactivated so the bishop askes us to go over about once a week to meet up with him. his sister is in our list of possible investigators. but anyway he feed us that on christmas day because Elder hill and i told him we were tired of eating ham. so he offered to cook us a mediterranian dish. and it was good.well i look forward to hearing from you. love you both very muchEdler Rich

The Latest from Andrew

2008-01-02T13:46:00.000-06:00

From:
andrew rich
Date:
01/02/08 04:39 pm

hi grandma and grandpa
it was great to get your email. how your mission going. mine is great. it's not what i thought it was going to be. alot more rejection and angry rejction than i thought it was going to be. we work really hard to get new referrals and new contacts but we only get like two or three new a week on a really good week. and it seems like most of thoughs are just yes people. they are just to nice to say no. then they start to avoid us its a little frustrating cause we waste so much time trying to get in contact with them. but its seems like on all of the frustating days we always end on a good note. like some one will progress will show some inietive that we didnt know they had or a really good message on the answering machine. just small spiritual moments that make the downer days all worth it. so what new in your mission. are the lamenites progressing. any really cool stories about baptiams or big bugs. how hot is it there. its 24 degrees today in PA and the sun is shining.

well love you. talk later.
Elder Rich

Holiday Report from Mexico

2007-12-26T14:02:00.000-06:00

Dinner at VIP´s with Dad and Mom and Elder Mortensen, the Zone Leader

The Zone at dinner before they opened their gifts.

Dad and Mom with Elder Farnworth, our other Zone Leader.

This is the Zone´s official Christmas Card to all of our families and friends. It was taken 12/24/07.

The Zone as it was in August, 2007. Elder Rubio (front center, blue tie) and Elder Prestwich (top left) were the Zone Leaders.

President and Sister Castillo during their visit to our home in November, 2007.

It was great talking to all our children, and we apologize to the grandchildren for not talking with you also. Please know that you are all in our hearts and very near and dear to us. We thought the holidays would be a long drawn out gloomy time in the mission field, but it was actually very pleasant. We have managed to find many people who love and appreciate us, and who we also love very dearly. We were invited to more parties and “Cena Navidads” than we had time or room (in our stomachs) to accommodate.
We participated with the elders in some fun activities and service, and we received much hugs, kisses, and many small gifts which touched our hearts. We shared the Christmas Spirit and message with many people, and we have many fond memories tucked away to call up on less happy days to warm us and comfort our souls when we need comforting.
Our camera is out of commission at the moment, but here are a few photos that the Elders and the Mission President shared with us.

We love you all. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and families are forever. We love this work, the people of Mexico are awesome, and the time is going far too quickly.

Saludos a todos para un feliz ano nuevo con mucho éxito. Nosotros amo todos de ustedes en nuestras familias. Gracias por sus supo y oraciones por nosotros.

All our Love

Dad and Mom

Grandpa and Grandma

Family Christmas Letter from Mexico

2007-12-18T13:11:00.000-06:00

Although we’re miles apart, and we can’t hug, kiss and touch, our hearts are united in spiritual communion with warm wishes for this brightest of all seasons. We want to wish you all the blessings of this great time of year when we accept the greatest gift of all, the gift of God’s only begotten son, who is the Savior and redeemer of all the world who gave to every person who has lived, is now living, or will ever will live upon this earth the gift of resurrection and immortality, along with the possibility of eternal life.
We are so filled with the Christmas Spirit this year and the joy of serving the Lord and Master of us all. We see the true spirit of Christmas in the eyes of the people we meet on the streets and in their homes filled with traditional decorations: arbol de Navidad, Santa Clause, reindeer, snowmen, nativities, poinsettias, and stars. The only big difference here is the length of time they celebrate and the emphasis on the various virgins, and the prominence of the Three Wise men. In the nativity scenes the wise men arrive at Bethlehem, in a little different mode of travel; one on a horse, one on a camel, and one on an elephant. The other big thing is the use of piñatas. The children have piñata parties throughout the entire season, from the first week of December to the first week in January, when the wise men arrive bearing their great loads of gifts. Of course we must have the cannons at various times and days of the week. Cannons are heard frequently here in Mexico. It’s the old philosophy, when the ear hears the noise the brain knows it’s alive. Mexican people thrive on noise, LOUD noise!
The little children are the most touching. We see them with there dark eyes all aglow with warm aspiration and excited anticipation of the arrival of Santa, and or wise men bearing their fondest hopes and dreams. By American Standards these people are poor, and the poor among these people are beyond our imagination of what poor really is, but they are resilient and resourceful. They make the most of a devastating situation and they smile with the true spirit of love and goodwill toward all. We have only seen a few of these poorer people, but where we live there aren't very many. The people we live and work with are working class middle income ($10,000 pesos - $1000 per month) people who keep the wheels of commerce and industry moving along in this society, by working 12 to 16 hours a day six or seven days a week..
It has been our tradition for many years to try and have a small gift under the tree for each and every one of you. We toyed with the idea of having Corinne withdraw enough from our account to do this again this year. Instead we have decided that this year we would distribute a few small gifts to the people we are working with, including the 18 elders in our zone, and make sure that the elders have a little Christmas luncheon. Then we will give the money we would have spent on the family to our Bishop and ask him to use it to help a needy family have a little Christmas joy. We hope you will all feel the joy of this decision and know and feel in your hearts that you have helped another, less fortunate than yourselves, have a little warmth and joy in their life
We sincerely hope and pray that all of you will draw close to one another in the spirit of Christmas joy and love and keep your hearts and souls united in the celebration of the birth and life of our Lord and Savior, the only begotten Son of our Father in Heaven.
We love you all and we know that your lives along with ours will be blessed because of the work that we are so blessed to be a very small part of. President Castillo told us at our monthly interview this past week that he hoped we understood that we were exactly where the Lord wanted us to be, doing exactly what the Lord wanted us to be doing. He also said he hoped we knew and understood how many people past, present and future that our work here has influenced and blessed. He thanked us and expressed his appreciation for our service. He also said that he knew our grandson Andrew would be a wonderfully successful missionary.
When you are all together this Christmas season, please read the scriptures, ponder their meaning and remember the birth, life and atonement of our Savior. Families ARE forever and the church is true, and the only true path to return to our Father in Heaven is in the footsteps of His beloved Son Jesus Christ.
We love you all very much and thank you ALL for your love, prayers and support.
Mom, Dad, / Grandma and Grandpa.

Letters From Andrew

2007-12-10T21:02:00.000-06:00

I know that this is Mom and Dads site but It thought I would post a letter here from Andrew. It is to Corinne and I but I thought this would be a way to share his mission with all of you. If someone objects please let me know. At this point we have received 4 letters from Andrew. One from the first night. Two the following week and now this one.

Hi Mom and Dad 12-06-07
I got your first letter on Tuesday. It was sent on the 29th. So its taking five days for letters to go back and forth. I've sent 3 letters not including this one. I haven't received any letters since.
Today is P-Day so I think I get to email today. Were only allowed to e-mail on P-days so you'll probably get my email before this letter.
But the MTC is awesome. Before I entered here on the 28th I was terrified. I wasnt sure if I wanted to be here on not.
12-08-07 Elder Schoff and I had to do something on Thursday that interrupted this letter so now I'm finishing it.
So anyway, as I was saying before, when you dropped me off here I was scared. You kept asking me if I was excited and the truth be told, I wasn't excited at all. I was on the verge of saying I didn't want to go on a mission the whole trip here.
But luckily I didn't say that. Being here at the MTC has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I really do love it. Ive never learned so much in all my life. One thing Ive learned is I don't know the scriptures as well as I should. I'm reading and learning like crazy trying to play catch up. I'm not the only one. Theres a lot of us trying to really learn the Book of Mormon & Bible History cause our teachers teach us like we have a doctorate in religion sometimes. But our teachers are great.
We have two. Bro Allen and Sis Smurthwaite. Bro AAllen seems to me to be the smartest buy I know when it comes to the doctrine. He teaches super logically. It makes it seem impossible to deny the truthfulness of our message when he teaches. He makes us feel we can teach like him. Sis Smurthwaite is very cute. To the point of being distracting, and she knows it. Lots of times she leaves the room when were studying cause we cant focus. Were trying to lock our hearts but its hard with such a cute teacher. I'm afraid without a point of reference as to what is attractive that my mission goggles might fall in place by the time I leave the MTC making all sisters seem beautiful. Ha Ha Ha.
Well, we work hard all day long. We sit in class about 8 hours a day. Then the rest of the time were at the call center or the LRC (Learning Resource Center) where we practice our lessons. The food is really still. I get much more that I can eat. Good stuff to like chicken Cordon blue. Cant spell. Probably cant spell in the rest of the letter, oh well.
The schedule is getting easier. Waking up is annoying. Not cause its hard but because I wake up about 1 minute before my alarm goes off. Getting to sleep has gotten easier. We have really comfortable beds, blankets and sheets. Their small but comfortable. The only thing now that wakes me at night is my companions gas, and I though Gladys was bad.
We got our travel plans. I show up at the Salt Lake airport at six a.m. on the 17th.
So all's well here. I still need my priesthood line of authority. And I'm not sure if my new inhaler got packed. Don't worry I've got two others with me. I just wanted you to kind of look around if you could.
So hows the family? What up with the Jeep accident? Hows your work out diet going Dad? We work out everyday here. I might be hard to keep up with when I get back.
Well I love you all very much. Andrew Rich

Feliz Navidad en Mexico

2007-11-30T14:02:00.000-06:00

Too early, you say? So we thought, but actually things start turning red and green with touches of silver and gold, right after Dia de Muerte. Since the people do not have a day of Thanksgiving here, Christmas is the next big thing. Decorations are everywhere, and each day more go up. They have lots of nativities, and shrines to the virgin of Guadalupe. They also have little stands in the mall where you can buy religious art, from pictures of the Savior, the last supper, angels, and other religious figures, with whom I am not familiar, to Santa’s elves, and reindeer, snowmen, and other traditional Christmas themes. Then there is the “real” Santa with reindeer (anywhere from four to eight) usually six, and of course snowmen and winter scenes with snow. Most of the people here don’t even know or can’t even imagine what snow or cold is. Nevertheless, the stores are completely stocked with down coats, sweaters, ski caps, gloves, scarves, and snow boots. As we walk down the street in our short sleeved clothing people stop, and ask, “No tiene frio?” We just smile and say, “Somos de Utah.”
We found out the other day that the celebration begins on the second of December, Feliz cumplianos de la virgen de Guadalupe, and runs consecutively all the way through to the sixth of January which is the day the three wise men come bearing gifts. Every day from start to finish there are piñata parties. On the 25th, the children receive a few small gifts from Santa, but on the sixth of January, there is the grand outpouring of gifts coming from the three Wise men. In between they have the “Fin del ano” celebration, for the adults, or those who think they are.
Then of course there are the cannons. The Mexican people cannot celebrate anything without shooting off cannons. The Christmas salvos began about a week ago, and we hear a dozen or so shots every day, spaced out from about 5:30 am to 10:00 pm.
All the big stores and malls we go into are totally geared up for Christmas. The big thing is nativity sets; they are everywhere. They range in size from life size to tiny little miniatures that fit in a teacup sized globe. They range in price from a few pesos, to thousands of pesos.
The food displays and holiday offerings are varied as well. The traditional favorite is Pozole. This is a large kernelled, very tough maize that you cook for hours and by itself is quite boring and tasteless. But when it is embellished with chicken, lettuce, avocado, sliced radishes, onions, cheese, cheecharon (deep fried pig skin) chili sauces of various colors, and degrees of picante, it is really quite tasty, and filling. It is served in a bowl of broth, with all the fixings in bowls on the table, and people just doctor it up to suit their individual taste. To add a special flair to this they also serve crispy tostada shells with crema (sour cream without the sour, Mmmm) and grated cheese. You eat these along with your Pozole, or you can just throw it in with the rest of the stuff and eat it all together.
The first time Mom and I saw Pozole in the store it looked pretty good. We thought it was just another kind of corn. So we bought some, and mom cooked it as a side dish for about ten minutes, Yuck! It was awful and we just threw it out and vowed never to buy it again. Then we got invited to eat at a member’s house, and they served Pozole. Wow! What a difference. This stuff is really very good. Of course it is not so much the Pozole that is good, it’s all the stuff you add to it. Kind of like mashed potatoes or steamed rice, not too tasty by itself but with gravy or other stuff, Yummmy! We don’t see a lot of turkey in the stores, and the ones we see are very expensive, anywhere from $320 pesos to $650 pesos. There are a lot of fancy rolled roasts with rich stuffing of chipotle, jalapeño, cheese, various types of chilies, herbs and spices, garnished with pineapple, cherries, mangos and other fruits or vegetables. Since the 24th falls on a Monday, and we usually have a zone meeting on Monday, we’re thinking about bringing something very special for the elders to eat, but we’re not sure what the actual plans are, so we’ll have to wait and see. Maybe we will just make a big pot of Pozole, and take all the trimmings. The neat thing for us to realize is that all over the world people celebrate our Lord and King, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. And they remember Him buy showing forth a greater amount of love for their families, and neighbors. Let us all as a family draw closer together in peace and love, and let that love reach out and touch all those we work, play, and associate with in our daily lives. May the joy of the Christmas season permeate our very souls no matter where we are, and let our hearts be united through the power of the Holy Ghost, let us be one in the spirit of love

Jeep T-Boned, Boys OK

2007-11-24T11:48:00.000-06:00

Following thanksgiving dinner Andrew and Sean went to meet a couple of their friends that they had planned on going to the movies with. Billy went with and away they go in Corinnes Jeep. Andrew was driving and was making a left. The kind of Left where you have to cross the lanes of the oncoming traffic. He was late into the intersections and a woman coming towards him was even later getting into the intersection and She T-bones the Jeep totaling her car and putting the hurt on the Jeep. So the Jeep was full of Young Men every seat taken and now one was really hurt. The airbags deployed and Andrew got a black eye from that. Billy was in the passenger seat and didnt see the car coming until the last fraction of a second and he received no noticeable damage. I understand that he is bruised and a bit shaken. Sean and their friends were in the back seat and none of them are damaged. The woman in the other car initially said she was fine and made a phone call but when the Ambulance arrived she complained of a Sore neck and went to the Hospital. We have not spoke with her but hope she is doing well. All in all it was a pretty luck thing to have so much damage to the cars and so very little to everyone else. I will try to get a picture of the Jeep up some time.
Cordell

Thanks for the great pictures...

2007-11-20T13:29:00.000-06:00

Dear family...
Thank you so much for the new pictures. It´s great to see all the additions and they really make our day. To the Steever family, you all look happy. The boys new hairstyles are awesome!
Please keep us updated with all the changes in the family, we are looking forward to the farewell pictures and thanksgiving too.
All our love to all of you...
grandpaandgrandma
dadandmom

The latest from Mexico

2007-11-13T12:52:00.000-06:00

The computer is back but I still can’t download my pictures of the last two baptisms. Hopefully that will be fixed soon. In the meantime I think I should give you an update on what is happening. We have a couple of families we are working with and we hope the work will result in some more baptisms. We will have one baptism this coming Sunday, the 11th November. Then there are several families that we are trying to follow up on, but they are hard to catch at home, which means they are either really busy, or else that they are avoiding us, because they aren’t interested but they don’t want to tell us so.
Last week we went into the Central Federal District to get our Flu shots. While we were there we went to the Church book store and picked up a few little things to give to our new members. While we were with the doctor I asked him to look at mom’s foot, because it is still giving her trouble when walking. He looked, pushed, prodded, asked her how bad it hurt, and then dismissed the whole thing by saying, “It’s just old age.” Mom is still mad, and I’m not too thrilled either.
We baptized Aldo the eight year old son of Alma on Friday October 26th and three members of the Sanchez family were baptized on Saturday, they were all confirmed on Sunday the 28th. We still have some dry members in both families that we are trying to work with.
One of our responsibilities is to find and fellowship less active members. We only have two or three right now but we know there are lots of them. We need to develop a system for keeping track of them but the language is a problem. We are working on it, plus we are trying to keep in contact with our new members to make sure they are being taught and fellowshipped. One of the ways we are hoping to have some success with is family home evenings. We have had three so far, and have attended three others. When we find a less active person attending we need to get their name address and phone, if we can and follow through. These are all skills that will take some training to develop. We’re working on it.
At their last interview with President Castillo, the other senior couple that has been here for almost a year, got word that they would be moving. I think it is a blessing for them, because their quarters are dark, dingy and damp. The winter is coming again and I think that a move would be good for them. I hope they don‘t move too far away, because we like to visit with them once a month, when time and commitments allow.
We are enjoying the family photo album. It is so nice to go in and browse. As soon as I get my camera and my computer so that they are speaking to one another, I’ll add the photos of the most recent baptisms.
We are so happy to be serving here in Mexico; I think we would be happy no matter where the Lord would choose for us to serve. Missionary work is such a great experience. Other than raising a family, we both feel that this experience is the best experience we have ever had. We have grown even closer together than we were before our call, and we have met so many life long friends that we love so much. I think every retired couple who enjoys relatively good health should consider going on a mission. We have had so many miraculous experiences since we left home, and they all tell us that God loves us and will bless us as long as we try our best to do his bidding.
We are planning to continue doing missionary work with the Hispanic community in Logan, when we return. It will probably take me that long before I am able to teach effectively. In the meantime We’ll just keep on doing our thing, and trying to increase or language skills.
We are thrilled to know that our first grandson will be serving a mission soon, we wished we could have been their when he went to the temple and for his farewell, but we wouldn’t give up this missionary experience for anything. Every week we experience the miracle of God’s work moving forward to fill the earth, and we know that this is one of the signs of the second coming. We are privileged to be here in God’s Promised Land and to know that the remnant of the house of Israel is being gathered in and taught the gospel. We are so happy to be part of the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. We know that the last days are truly upon us. As long as we all stay true to the faith we can have peace and tranquility in our hearts and know that God will sustain and keep us through all the trials and tribulations that are to come.
We will be thinking about all of our family at home during the Holiday season. Please try to get together as much as you possibly can. Remember What you know in this life, and family are the only things you can take with you into the next life, and without family, the next life will be a whole lot of loneliness and remorse all wrapped up in sorrow.
God bless you all, and may He keep you safe in his arms. That is all for now, until next time, Love, Grandpa / Dad

Family News

2007-11-08T12:28:00.000-06:00

Dear Family...
Dad´s computer had to go back to the hospital. He will post our adventures later. However, we really wanted you all to know how much we appreciate the pictures and notes and posts on the blog.
We will be thinking of you this weekend as you celebrate Andrew´s farewell and eat all that good food together. We wish we could be there, but we know that we are where we belong at the present time.
Please remember how very much we lovc all of of you. We know Andrew will be a great missionary and we are very proud of him and his parents for raising such a great young man. We are so excited for him.
All our love to all of you...
DadandMom

PS: Billy...the pictures are so awesome! Many thanks and much love. D&M

Hello From The Steevers

2007-11-06T21:28:00.000-06:00

Hello everybody! Our computer is feeling a little uncooperative lately, so I am at the Library updating you all on everything! All is well here in Logan! We had a fun Halloween and even got to go to Lagoon's Frightmares the Saturday before Halloween! That was fun! Loren got a big kick out of scaring EVERYBODY in the haunted walk throughs! (even the spooks!) I got a big kick out of seeing how scared he was on some of the rides! He hates heights and going upside down! Speed has never been an issue, as long as he's the driver, but I've never seen a roller coaster that allows the passenger to control the speed or flight pattern! The look he gets on his face when you're strapped in to a chair a couple hundred feet in the air and then suddenly drop back down to Earth, only to fly right back up again, is something everyone should get the oppertunity to experience!

The whole family is looking forward to Andrew's farwell on the 17th! Loren shouldn't be on call that weekend, and I've requested Saturday and Sunday off, so we should be there either Saturday afternoon, or if Loren's not to tired after work, we'll leave Friday evening, and see you all Friday night! It'll be fun to see everyone! Don't worry mom and dad, we'll take lots of pictures for you!

Not much else to report! All of us are healthy and happy! We love and miss all of you! You are in our thoughts and prayers constantly! Love you lots! You are all in my Heart............Always! Jenn=)

Corinne Got the Job

2007-10-31T22:08:00.000-06:00

I just spoke with Jennifer and she did not know that Corinne had gotten the job. I know Corinne sent an email to Mom and Dad but I didn't even think that about others were looking here to get updates about whats going on.

Corinne is the practice manager of 5 medical practices at the same time. And she is also the manager for the building that holds the practices. Its as big as the hospital that's in my home town. Corinne is going through some stress with the new job but she is going to be awesome. The place has been without a manager for almost 6 months and it needs a lot of TLC. Two people have quit since she was hired, basically because they were slackers or what-have-you and I dont think they wanted to work their and be managed. And I think they knew that they were about to be found out and so they quit. One was the head nurse and the other was the lead staff for the admin people. So Corinne has her hands full.

Today Corinne came home from work early because she was sick, and I think it as at least partially from the stress. But she has some great ideas about how to get the place up to speed and I know she will make it a great place for all of them

I was also hired permanently with WAMU home loans today. I had been on an intern program basically and they made me an offer and I took it and so thats that.

Also, some of you know Jack and Jackie Watson, friends of Corinne and I. I got and email from them yesterday telling me Jack is in Iraq.

Love Cordell

From your favorite grandkids!

2007-10-30T21:55:00.000-06:00

Hi Grandma and Grandpa it's Danni and Preston! We uploaded some pictures of our wedding and honeymoon for you two to enjoy. We are doing well in our new home and will have to take pictures of our house, and send them to you soon. Preston is still working at Cabinet Door Service and building air plane wings for Kit Fox and I am currently looking for a job and focusing on school. I hope you're doing well and we miss and love you!!

Love
~Preston and Dannielle Riley

Thanks to Cordell

2007-10-26T11:40:00.000-05:00

Cordell and all, thankyou so much for the great pictures...I am not sure the picture of us on the family album is family rated but, oh well. We love all the pictures and encourage everyone to post more. The computer came home from the doc´s and is feeling much better so watch for a post after all of the baptism´s. Dad will tell you all about it. That´s all for now, but we wanted you to know how much this blog means to us. Many thanks to Cordell for setting it up. All our love to all of you.
momanddad

Just a note...

2007-10-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

The computer is in the hospital but seems to be recovering well. Dad will post a new post as soon as it comes home.
Thought you would all like to know that Aldo is being baptized on Friday and the Sanchez family, Ermalinda, Juan and Jael, will be baptized on Saturday. All will be confirmed on Sunday. We feel really blessed to be doing the Lord´s work. We will post pictures with the next post. Till then...much love to all.
dadandmom

The Work Goes on in Mexico

2007-10-16T13:50:00.000-05:00

FIG. 1

We are starting to get really busy with this missionary work. We have been tracting almost every day, but some days we have to go back and follow up on some of the families we have found to make future appointments. Right now we are working with one new member family where we baptized the mother and the daughter, but could not get the father to accept our message. This couple has a seven year old who will be eight this month and he wants to be baptized. Besides this we are working with two other families, that we feel very positive about.
One family Elva and Manual are what the missionaries call “Christiano”. They believe almost all the same things we do except for the necessity for only one prophet on the earth for the whole world at this time. They think that there is only two outcomes at the final judgment,. If you are good, Heaven, if not the other place. They only accept the Bible, and although they may believe the Book of Mormon is inspired they do not think that it contains the completeness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This family will be tough to convert, but if they are baptized they will be part of the backbone of the church in this part of Mexico.
The other family is from a strong Catholic background, but they are open to our message. Hermalinda and Juan have two married daughters, and two grandsons with another grand baby on the way. They also have two sons still at home, Jyer is 19 and Juan jr. is 13. The 19 year old works as a mechanic right on his street, a few houses down. Every time we saw him he was up to his armpits in grease. When we gave the first lesson to his family, the mother asked us to invite him to church. They had accepted our invitation and wanted him to come too. As we passed by where he works we didn’t see him, but I saw some legs sticking out from under a car, so I went into the tent that they use for a garage and looked under the car. Sure enough it was Jyer, he said he would come to church with his family. I wasn’t convinced he would be ready to go at 7:40 when we stopped by for them. To my pleasant surprise, Jyer opened the door to greet me, dressed all in white, and he was scrubbed spotless. He was the only one ready, and he invited me to come in and sit down. The family came, and they had a great first experience in church. Jyer had to leave after Sunday School to go to work, but I could tell that he had appreciated the experience.
Alma, the lady we baptized with her daughter on General Conference Sunday, was confirmed on Sunday the 14th. Her daughter didn’t make it to the chapel, but she promised that she would be there the 21st. Angelica the wife of our first baptism and Alma struck up a friendship at church and the fun thing we discovered is that they live back to back, only kitty-corner to each other in the adjacent clusters of eight homes each, but they live on two different streets. (See FIG. 1)
Figure 1 shows the outline of the four apartments on the bottom floor of each lot, and where Alma and Angelica live. In reality they are only 30 or 40 feet apart but to walk from one apartment to the other it is several hundred yards. Now imagine that these eight units are repeated side by side for 8 to 10 times on each side of each street. They extend out to the cross street that connects all the streets together. So in order for Angelica to get to Alma’s house she would have to walk past all the houses on Acacia street, turn right at the gate, and walk down to Alamos street, turn right again, and walk past all the houses on Alamos until she reached Alma’s house.
I haven’t said much about the weather here, only that it was usually very pleasant temperature wise, and that it rained a lot. I guess we arrived just as the rainy season was getting started. It rained almost every day for the whole time we have been here so far. Now that seems to have stopped, and it only rains once in awhile. The sky stays blue, very, very blue, and there aren’t too many clouds. The people tell us it is autumn. The trees, at least some of them, are starting to turn fall colors, and the stores are full of toys, Dia de Muerte (Halloween) and Christmas stuff. They don’t have Thanksgiving here.
There is also a lot of winter wear, coats, sweaters, hats, gloves etc. etc. in the stores. I get a kick out of some of the people running around in coats sweaters, sweat shirts, and winter hats, and we just wear our normal short sleeves and feel toasty. I am also seeing space heaters in the stores. The Mexican people all say that it gets really cold here in the winter. We are at a fairly high elevation, 7,000 feet, but we are also at almost the exact same latitude that Guantanimo Bay Cuba is at, and it never got below 70 degrees the whole 18 months I was there. I haven’t bought a temperature gauge, but my guess would be that so far the temperature has not dipped below 65 degrees. I’ll be interested to see just how “cold?” it gets.
Well that’s about enough for now, I don’t want to bore anybody, talking about the weather. I just thought you might find it interesting. I heard this week that it snowed two feet in Rigby Idaho. Maybe there is snow at our house. I hope Billy knows how to handle the snow blower.

2007-10-11T13:02:00.000-05:00

Alma and Karen Urquiza

Conference weekend, we got home from all the meetings, around 6:00 pm Sunday. We attended all four sessions and we had a new member at the Priesthood session and 2 candidates for baptism at the Sunday morning session. We baptized them between the two sessions. There were 10 people baptized in our stake, and 18 from the neighboring stake which is also in our zone. I felt honored to be asked to do these two baptisms.

The work is going very well right now, and we have two or three more people we are working with that we have high hopes for. It is really such a thrill to see people accept our message and go down into the waters of baptism. The mother, Alma, and her daughter, Karen, that were baptized on the 7th of October have a little son/brother, Aldo, 7 years old that can hardly wait until he is 8 in just three more weeks. He wants to be baptized so badly, he can hardly sit still.
A few weeks ago we met a woman on the street, who came up to us asking for change for the telephone. We didn’t have any, but when she noticed our name tags, she asked if we were Mormons. We affirmed and she broke into tears. She told us that she had had the elders coming to teach her, and then they just stopped coming, she didn’t know why. She said she wanted to be baptized. We took down her information, on a blue card, and not knowing where she lived we turned it over to the zone leader. We found out that she lived in our zone but not in our area. The card was given to the elders in her area and today we saw her be baptized. When we greeted Rosa, the lady at the telephone, on Sunday, she recognized us immediately, and she kept repeating, through her tears …”gracias, gracias”. We have subsequently found out that her experience, with the missionaries who left her high and dry, happened several years ago, and not knowing what else to do, she went back to the Catholic Church, even though she knew it wasn’t true. God works in mysterious ways.
Missionary work is a very rewarding experience and we are loving it. To see the look on people’s faces before and after baptism is almost miraculous. They change from doubtful curiosity to anticipation then to hope, to joy and peace in just a few short visits.
We went to see Alma Monday night and we talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost, that she would be receiving next Sunday, and while we were explaining the function of the Holy Ghost and the difference between receiving a witness and having it as a constant companion, Alma said that our first encounter with her was miraculous, because she never opens her door to anybody she doesn’t know. She said that something touched her when she saw us, and she knew that she wanted to hear our message. This was a special witness to us that we are succeeding in our purpose before God.
After our visit with Alma we went to visit a family that we found three weeks ago. They are the Garcia’s. When we first knocked on their door, they opened it wide and invited us in, saying they were Christians. Marjorie was leery of another Bible bashing session, but it turned out quite well. Apparently they are non-denominational. We told them about the restoration and Joseph Smith and we got an appointment for a return visit with the elders who speak much better Spanish than either of us do. Elva Garcia speaks some English, but her husband Manual doesn’t. Well when the day for our visit came they called us a half hour before and canceled, with no explanation. We went by several times but found no one at home. We were fearful that this family had done an about face and we would not see them again. Thankfully we were wrong. They were both home, and they invited us in again. They explained the cancellation with an emergency that had come up suddenly in the family. They had a lot of questions and doubts. We were there to get an appointment, not teach, but we did try to answer their questions. They were having a bit of trouble with the concept of prophets and the Book of Mormon. We bore our testimonies and asked that they keep an open mind until we returned to teach with the missionaries. They said even if we aren’t baptized we hope to remain friends with you. The spirit is strong in their home and they really need the additional light of the restored gospel in their lives.
This missionary work is such a growing experience for us, and we are learning so many valuable life lessons almost on a daily basis. One of the most important things we have learned here in Mexico, is that the Lord will bless us according to our needs as long as we make an effort to do His work, and we can survive just fine on a whole lot less than we considered to be necessary. We live a lot more simply and our life is a lot less complicated. I don’t think I’ll ever take clean, pure drinkable water for granted again. We brush our teeth in bottled water and we never use more than a half a glass full. People here wash their cars and seldom use more than a five gallon bucket to do the job, unless it is extremely muddy and dirty. The tap water here is potentially lethal if you drink it. It looks clean, but we wash our dishes in it with a cap full of iodine to disinfect them. We also use iodine in the water to soak our fresh vegetables in. The tap water is safe to shower and wash our hands a face in, we just don’t let any get in our mouth. We use about five gallons of bottled water, bottled by the Coca-Cola Company here in Mexico, every week. It costs us $28 pesos a week ($2.80). We drink a lot of water every day. Our wash water and non potable water supply comes from a tank on the roof. It holds about five hundred gallons, and it gets filled about every other day. I have no idea where the water comes from or how the system works. Sometimes (3 so far) the tank runs dry, and we are without water to wash dishes, bath, or flush with. There is no warning when this happens, it just happens, and we make do..
The other thing we had to get used to is the electrical distribution system. There is only one outlet in each room, with the exception of the kitchen, it has two. We have had to get used to using extension cords and multiple outlet extenders, as there is only one plug-in in each outlet. It is all very complicated and I’ve often wondered why there aren’t more fires. The main reason for this is all the houses are solid concrete, no wood frame construction anywhere.
Another interesting thing is the way the gardeners mow their lawns. They use hedge trimmers, weed whackers or once or twice I have seen someone with an old fashioned push mower. The brooms for cleaning up the grass clippings are made of willow switches tied with wire to a tree limb.
The stereotypical lazy Mexican that some people believe is the norm, is completely bogus as far as we can tell. The Mexican people work very hard for very little money. The average wage for most general labor intensive jobs is from $5 to $8 a day. Many people work 6 or 7 days a week at jobs that would overwhelm and completely destroy the desire of an American laborer to return for more the next day. I am surprised that many of the people have nice cars, a big TV, and a modest but comfortable home. I have even met a few people who have completely paid off their homes, meaning apartments like ours of 5 to 6 hundred square feet. It is amazing how many people can live in such cramped quarters and survive. Like I said, they are a very friendly people.
Apparently credit is easy to get I’m not sure about interest rates, but the working class people seem happy. They take a licking and keep on ticking.
We love Mexico, the Mexican people, and especially the Mexican Saints. They are so kind, generous and full of faith. They work hard, play hard, and love life. Most of them will give a friend the shirt off of their back, and think nothing of it.
If it wasn’t such a long way from our family, and such a hassle with the citizenship thing and all the legal hoops and red tape to go through, I think it would be nice to live here. We are definitely thinking about a return visit in a few years from now.
VIVA MEXICO!

More pictures from the Pyramids

2007-10-04T14:24:00.000-05:00

Lucy, me and the vendor. One of 1000´s

Lucy liked it but she didn´t buy it

Approaching the pyramid of the sun

Dad, David and Lucia

David and Lucia

Ezra is telling Dad he will have to duck

I always turn around when a guy whistles at me

Look! There are big lizards down there!

See Michael...there is cactus in Mexico. Just like you said.

Lucia and me. But that´s Laurie Anderson misbehaving.

The American pilots from Utah and their guide.

Here are a few more pictures from the pyramids. We tried to add them to the album but didn´t have time to figure it out.

Pyramids in Mexico (be sure to read the story below the pictures after the big space)

2007-10-01T13:29:00.000-05:00

This is me at the top of the pyramid of the sun, you can see the pyramid of the moon at myright elbow.

This is the little group we went with. from left to right Lucia Perez, Mom, Ezra Flores, Laurie and Carol Andersen, and David Perez.

2007-10-01T13:14:00.001-05:00

TEOTIHUACAN: Ciudade de los Dioses

On the 29th of September Mom and I walked the Calle de los Muertos. We went with the other senior missionary couple, Elder and sister Andersen. Our fearless leaders were Ezra Flores, and David and Luci Perez, our wonderful neighbors. What an overwhelming experience. It is hard to describe the feeling one gets, after the fact, when you begin to realize that we were walking the very streets where Book of Mormon prophets walked more than 2000 years ago. And then the reality sets in, we were standing on the very ground where the resurrected Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, appeared to the people of the Book of Mormon in 33 AD.
What can we say except that it was a profound experience. We walked in, under, around and upon the ancient stones that were placed there to honor God, and later served to worship false gods of the fallen people who had rejected Him. I climbed up to the very top of the tallest pyramid in Mexico, the Pyramid of the Sun, and looked upon the Pyramid of the Moon. We set out together to climb what seemed like an insurmountable staircase to the top of this gynormous pile of neatly stacked, massive blocks of stone. Then at the first level, Mom said, “You go on without me. I know I can’t make it.” I decided that if she couldn’t continue, then I would just stay with her until the group returned for the decent. But she said, “This is a once in a lifetime chance to do something that you will remember all the days of your life. I want you to go for it.” So reluctantly I continued on for the remaining 100 stair steps, each at least 12 inches high. I almost gave up twice more, but her words, “Go for it.” Kept ringing in my ears, and I gathered strength, and courage and continued on to the top. The climb is very steep, and is not for the faint of heart or weak of limb. My legs were very rubbery when I finally reached my goal, and when I turned and looked back down the stairs I got dizzy. I was told that the people who came up to worship God would always descend backwards because it would be disrespectful to turn one’s back on God. I can see where this would also be easier, if not safer. I had to go back down forward though because there were so many people that if I went backward they would step on my hands. The view from the top was very impressive. I could see the entire Ciudad de los Dioses (City of the Gods). I will attempt to insert a picture of me at the top, with the Pyramid of the Moon in the background.
When I returned to her, Mom was happy that I had made it to the top, and she shared with me how interesting it had been to sit there and listen to all the different languages that were being spoken by the visitors that were constantly streaming up and down the stairs. Some stopping briefly to rest before continuing on. Then hand in hand we descended the last 50 stairs to the bottom of the Pyramid of the Sun.
All along the calle de los muertos there are ruins of homes, and markets and various other buildings used by these ancient people. We were able to go into some that still had roofs and the halls and rooms still had some colors left from the ancient décor. There were many fountains, baths, and pools (all dry of course). There was one room that had walls and appeared to be in its original condition. In the center of this room was a massive rectangular pool. We were told that it was used as a teaching tool for ancient students of astrology. The pool reflected the night sky and all the stars for the students to study. The walls and pillars were ornately decorated with ancient symbols that represented God’s creations and powers along with His eyes that overlooked all.
After the afternoon of exploration of the ruins, we visited the museum, where they had a complete diorama of the entire city, which also included markers for the archeological sites that were yet to be excavated. There were also numerous displays of ancient artifacts, tools, weapons, and carved stones that were used to decorate the buildings in the city.
At about 3 o’clock, after a long day of hiking and exploration, we returned to the cars, and had some lunch and some water, then we began our journey home. We were very tired, but grateful for the opportunity to taste of the ancient culture of this beautiful and mysterious city. We had been anticipating this adventure for three or four weeks, and we were discouraged when for two solid days, prior to the trip, it rained. There was a tropical storm and on those days it rained all day. During the normal rainy season it never rains for more than an hour or two. Then we heard that there was another tropical storm right behind this one. Well it didn’t rain a bit while we were there, and in fact it wasn’t really hot either. We had been told to wear hats for protection from the sun, but it was actually quite pleasant. No sooner than we got on the road, than it began to rain, very hard. Within a half hour we were driving through 2 to 3 inches of water, and in some places the water was up to our hubcaps. We could see it on other cars on the road.
Thanks to our very skillful and absolutely wonderful driver and leader of our expedition we arrived home safely. Ezra Flores will always be a special person in our lives. He came up to us one day as we walked through the mall. He introduced himself and told us he was a returned missionary. Shortly thereafter he invited us to come to his home and share a family home evening and meet his family. They are an amazing and wonderful family, and we have found out that he is a third generation member of the church. His parents were born into the church and so was he and his older brother and younger sister. He and his brother served missions in the states, and speak excellent English. The younger sister is thinking about going on a mission. She just finished her college degree in accounting. Their father is a chemical engineer, and the whole family serve as a support family for the church’s high school in the central district. We love all the people of Mexico, but this is one family, along with a few others we have come to know, who will always be special to us.

From Mom and Dad in Mexico.

2007-09-25T11:36:00.000-05:00

This blog is for the whole family.
We are here and you are there, We are just as interested in what is going on in your world as you are in ours. We know you are busy, and so are we. We were hoping this venue would be of mutual benefit for all of us. We would really enjoy hearing about your lives and what you all are doing.
We are staying busy with missionary work. We have found about five or six new investigators this week, after knocking on over a hundred doors. It is a thrill for us when people invite us into their homes, and want us to tell them about the church. We even have had people come up to us on the street and want to know what we are about.
In our post about Mexico, I left out one thing in particular about the traffic control system. They have very few traffic lights here, and no one pays much attention to stop signs, they are merely suggestions not orders. Soooo... what they do is just before every intersection point where there is potential for a collision, they construct topes, (big speed bumps) that will tear up your car if you don´t stop and proceed forward very slowly. It works very well.
Watch for our next post. We will tell you all about our pyramid adventure and also about a little market we found right near our house. It is called El Mercado Carmen, and it is a covered building of about 5 to 10 acres, one story with hundreds maybe even thousnds of tiny stalls of independent vendors.
That´s all for now, Tune in next week for more.

More About Mexico

2007-09-10T09:27:00.000-05:00

POST No. Four.
This week has been a good week. We are both starting to feel better. Mom’s foot is still a bit of trouble but you know her she just keeps on truckin’ along. The whole country of Mexico is poised for a grand celebration of their independence. We see Red, White and Green everywhere. The guys with the canons are keeping very busy from dawn ‘til dusk every day and all night and day on weekends. It sounds like we’re at war.
This weekend coming up should be busy. On the 14th the stake will have an independence fiesta. Thursday we will be working with the Relief Society making tamales. That should be fun. Friday is the fiesta, Saturday we are eating with the elders at the Perez family’s daughter and son-in-law’s home, Sunday Eduardo, and Angelica have invited us to dinner and Monday we are having a “Noche de Hogar” (family home evening) at our house for new members and investigators.
We are managing to get in 2 or 3 hours of tracting each day, and 3 or 4 new referrals a week. The work is slow, but very gratifying. We just wish we could follow up on our contacts and do some teaching. We study the language and the gospel every day, in hopes that this will be a reality before it is time to go home. Right now the teaching we do is very basic. As soon as the person asks a question or makes a comment we do not understand we just invite them to church, and try to get a referral, and then move on to the next door.
Here’s a little about Mexico, that Cordell asked us to include:
The streets are busy, and the drivers are crazy. We are glad we don’t have to drive. You see everything from backward three wheel tricycle to mopeds, to motorcycles, buses, trucks of all sizes, combies (VW busses with the seats rearranged so as to accommodate 15 or more) and donkey carts. To make things even more interesting there are very few street signs, and no one seems to know where one town, state, colony, village or whatever ends and the next starts. It is really just one continual spread of humanity. Except for the District Federal, where the real Mexico City is, there are no buildings over five stories, and the majority are just two or three stories and they are all connected together like a beehive. The people who have there own businesses just build an extension on their homes and operate curbside. There are little shops on each block that sell all kinds of food, services, products, or what have you. Let your imagination run wild here. There are barbershops next to mechanic shops, and a hamburger stand next to a fruit stand or flower shop. The mechanics will work on the cars right in front of their shop while the car is parked at the curb. There are people whose business establishment is their tricycle, these include: shoe shine, knife sharpening, bread sales, tamales, tacos, cleaning supplies, ice cream, car washing, toys, sweets, novelties, clothing and just about anything you can load onto the front of a three wheeled backward tricycle. I’m not sure, but I don’t think a license is required to be in business here. Some of the vendors just carry their goods to the side of the autopista (freeway) and walk up and down the lanes of traffic and sell to the motorists who are trying to commute to work, sometimes like a snail, and at others like a roadrunner.
Our apartment is one of 60 on our street that runs at right angles to the main avenue. There are 7-1/2 units on each side of the street, each unit has 4 apartments. The end of the street is a dead end on the next group of similar units on another street. Our apartment is 550 square feet and is exactly like every other apartment in size and floor plan. The avenue has ten streets five on each side, and there are two avenues in our colony. Our avenue, is a little different. In place of the last two streets there are the two schools one on each side of the avenue. One is younger children, K – 4th or 5th and the other is 6th & 7th.
Each apartment has a gas tank or a cylinder for heating water and or cooking. And a water tank for bathing and washing clothes and dishes. Most of the water heaters are only lit for the 20 or 30 minutes it takes to heat the bath water. Dish water is heated on the stove, hot plate or with a heating wand you put right in the sink. Clothes are washed in cold water. The water in the tank is not for drinking, or brushing your teeth. We buy bottled water for that. We buy it in 5 gallon bottles called garfons. We also have small bottles we keep in the refrigerator, new ones for company and refillable bottles we use for ourselves. We keep a 2 liter bottle of drinking water by the sink in the hall where we brush our teeth. The bathroom is small about 24 square feet. There is a shower and a toilet. The washbowl is in a small 1’x 2’ alcove in the hallway. We have a bedroom and a study, then in the front is a living room, dinning room, and kitchen. Halfway down the hall between the kitchen and the bathroom is a door that leads to the spiral stairs that go to the roof. On the roof is the washroom and a closed in (with steel cage) patio. This is where our water tank and gas tank are located. If you wash clothes there are clotheslines here also. On the landing outside the side door is the water heater, and if you use a gas cylinder (20 kg) instead of the tank it is here also.
Mexico city itself is divided into various political subdivisions: states colonies, towns, villages, suburbs and whatever else they have I’m not sure. I never know exactly where I’m at, other than Mexico City, the largest city in the world.
The winter weather here is very mild, even when the native born citizens are running around with coats and sweaters and complaining about being cold, I’m comfortable in my short sleeved shirt. I don’t know about the summer weather, but when I lived in Cuba which is about one degree further north it was never really unbearably hot, just humid. We are still in the rainy season. It rains every day, but it is normally over in no more than two or three hours. It does get very intense at times with thunder and lightening, and the wind can kick up in no time at all, then after it’s over, it calms down and the sun comes out and dries it all up. There are all kinds of flowers, plants, trees, shrubs and fruits here. We have seen roses and poinsettias blooming side by side.
The people are very friendly, and polite. They work very hard every day and they work long hours. They all seem to like noise, any kind of noise. This seems to be like a connection to life for them. The brain knows it is alive when the ear hears the noise. They are a very reverent people when they attend church. They are very teachable, but not too dependable when it comes to keeping commitments. We invite them to church or make an appointment, with them, and it is not uncommon for them to not show up, or not be at home when you come for the appointment. It is truly a test of patience and persistence, working with them. But once they are truly converted they are very sincere and faithful, even though not punctual. Sacrament starts at 8:00 a.m. sharp, and there are maybe ten people in the chapel, including the Bishop and his councilors. By the time we are ready to bless the sacrament, the chapel is half full. After Sacrament is over the chapel is full. A few more might trickle in during the talks.
The food is good, at least what we have had that we didn’t cook ourselves. The little stands we go by that serve tacos and tamales all smell so good, but we have been warned by our leaders, not to eat at these places. We have eaten out several times, at the California restaurant, Burger King, Popeyes (Cajun fish and chips), Wal-Mart, one or two private roadside eateries, when with friends, and last week we ate at a place called Taco Inn in the food court in the Mall. We are still alive and kicking. We also have eaten at six different members homes and the food they prepare is excellent, just a little on the pico side but not too much for our Gringo pallets. Marjorie has developed her own style of cooking with the available ingredients. It is different but we like it. We have found a great little tortilla maker right here in the neighborhood. Tortillas, 2 cents apiece. They make great Chihauhauas. And we found some small hot dogs that just fit. I can eat about eight or nine, but seven are more comfortable. During the Avocado season we had Avocados several times a week. They are cheap and good. Watermelons, and Cantaloupe are also cheap and good. Despite all this good eating, we have lost, between the two of us, a total of 75 pounds. Our clothes don’t fit too good but we feel great.
Well enough for now. Maybe more next week.

Making Pictues larger

2007-09-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

If you want to see Mom and Dads pictures in a larger format, right click on them, save them to you computer then you can look at them in whatever format or size that you would like. These pictures are very big and contain a lot of detail if you decide to do that.

Admin Note for Mom and Dad

2007-09-09T16:43:00.001-05:00

You post pictures the same place you make regular posts. You will see a line just above where you type in text and you will see a place to select the Font; Right of that by about 13 icons you will see the ABC to check spelling. Right of that you will see and Icon of a picture. To post a picture click on that then it will allow you to browse and add any picture on the computer that you are using.

Also When you go make a post you will see the word "Create", to the right of that it will say "Edit Posts." If you click on that, it will give you a list of all of the posts on your blog. You can then click on Edit and make any change you would like to that post. For example you can go into the pictures I posted, change the titles and add whatever words you would like. You can also delete this post.

At the moment I cant change the picture size. Its me not the Blog. I am learning about changing the size but for now it is what it is. However, anyone who wants to can click on a photo, download it and it will expand to its origional size.

Old Apartment

2007-09-09T16:41:00.000-05:00

Old Living Room and Old Kitchen

A nice couple

2007-09-09T16:40:00.002-05:00

Our gardener´s at our first apartment. We tried to convert them but they think they have to work 7 days a week.

A Group Photo

2007-09-09T16:40:00.001-05:00

A group Photo

Dad at the Gate

2007-09-09T16:39:00.001-05:00

Dad at the Gate

David and Luci

2007-09-09T16:38:00.001-05:00

This couple was titles David and Luci

Mexico Pictures.

2007-09-09T16:30:00.001-05:00

The office missionaries graduating class on our last day at the MTC. There is one single sister. The young guys in the middle are the instructors.

Mexico Home

2007-09-09T16:26:00.000-05:00

This is mom in their "Study" A Picture of their Kitchen and a Picture of the Living Room

Mom and Dad In Mexico

2007-09-09T16:14:00.000-05:00

This is one of the first Pictures I remember receiveing from Grandam and Grandpa in Mexice. I think its that besides Mom and Dad looking great, the Plant is very beautiful.

I do not know the name of the family on the Right. This is one of the first batpisms Mom and Dad Participated in. They origionally gave me the families name but I do not know it now as I am posting it. Hopefully dad will be able to tell us who the family is as well as who the young man is behind the Sister.

2007-08-27T14:47:00.000-05:00

8/26/2007

3rd blog –
Mom wants to share her thoughts on the conference we attended with Elder Zwick. Tuesday, the 21st was an early start. We went and picked up the Zone Leaders at 8:15 and went to the Tepacalpa chapel for our zone conference, 4 zones attended, about 80 people total. When Elder and Sister Zwick arrived with President and Sister Castillo they went straight to the front and then invited each of the missionaries to come forward, sort of like a receiving line. Elder Zwick (who is fluent in Spanish) conversed with each of the missionaries, in Spanish, as did Sister Zwick then President Castillo, Sister Castillo and the Assistants to the President. When it was my turn, Elder Zwick took my hand and switched to English. He expressed great gratitude for our service. Sister Zwick was just as gracious and appreciative.
The meeting started at 10:00 am with the usual D&C 4 (Andrew, you need to memorize these) and the Missionary Purpose from Preach My Gospel. Then Elder Zwick spoke for about 10-15 minutes about how each missionary is called to their area of service. It is truly an inspired calling from God via his living apostles. Elder Zwick described a day that Elder Eyring and Elder Scott were assigning missions. They of course use the technology of computers and every missionaries picture and application come up on the screen. Elder Eyring was having difficulty with one assignment and decided to put the application at the bottom of the list. Elder Scott finished his list and said to Elder Eyring that someone was missing from his list. Elder Eyring then brought up the application that he was having difficulty with and Elder Scott said that that was the one missing from his group and the assignment was made.
After hearing from Sister and President Castillo we took a break for about 30 minutes and had muffins, granola bars, yogurt (all yuck) and water. During our break, Elder Zwick came over and chatted with us and the Anderson’s, the other senior couple in our mission. Just small talk, like he was a real person and we were his friends. Pretty impressive.
Sister Zwick was our next speaker. They have 4 children and 11 grandchildren. She referenced Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel and 3 Nephi 13. She emphasized the importance of Pure Faith. Citing D&C 78:19 she reminded us that it is a privilege to serve and to be thankful for all things.
Then Elder Zwick took the stand and taught and counseled and encouraged us for the next 2 hours. “Teach true principles in the same way you learn them.” “Knowledge is light.” He talked about work – work is tough (duro) and it requires obedience, intelligence and confidence in being able to get the work done. He spoke about amor perfecto, perfect love and then referred us to D&C 132:47-51. He also quoted Helaman 3:35 and told us that this scripture is Elder Richard G Scott’s favorite scripture because it is all encompassing or all in one scripture.
Then he talked about basic foundations (I believe he is an architect) and how critical they are. He taught much more from the scriptures and you will have to go to my journal on page 42 for a full diagram and explanation of what he referred to as the Circle of Spirituality. Elder Zwick said that the law of the gospel in which we claim to believe is sacrifice. The law of sacrifice for missionaries is …making perfect use of the Lord’s time.
Elder Zwick talked about President Packer’s study of the scriptures. Elder Eyring and Elder Packer were on a 2 week trip to Japan. Elder Eyring asked Elder Packer what he would like to do in the extra time they had. Elder Packers response was that it would be a perfect time to study the scriptures. We must study the scriptures always. (See Alma 13) In conclusion Elder Zwick counseled us to always give credit to others, never forgetting to credit God and to expect miracles.
My favorite story that Elder Zwick told was about the first meeting he attended after being called to the Seventy. It was in a meeting room in the Salt Lake Temple. It took a while for the participants to assemble and President Hinckley was about the room greeting the bretheren. Then it was time to start. The room grew quiet as President Hinckley moved to the podium and smiling said, “I love the missionaries.” He didn’t welcome the bretheren or use the often heard, “My beloved bretheren,” but …”I love the missionaries.”
I know President Hinckley loves us. I know he is a prophet of God. I know the Church is true and has been restored for our benefit. I am thankful for my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I am thankful for my companion for eternity. I am thankful for my family. My love for them has no boundaries. I am so incredibly blessed. I am thankful to be a missionary and pray many times each day that we will be instrumental in teaching the Gospel to many of the people of Mexico. It is a true privilege to serve God and to acknowledge the support of our family and friends, without whom this incredible experience would not be possible.
Elder Zwick said, “Don’t purr.” Or never get too comfortable. I am treasuring the opportunity we have to serve the Lord. He also said, “Expect miracles.” My miracle was to be able to understand just about all that was said during our meeting. It was entirely in Spanish.

Amen to everything Mom has said here. We love this experience, and it will be one of our fondest memories for years to come. It amazes me that Mom understands so much of what is said in the meetings we attend and I understand so little, yet she is still struggling with her speech. I can make a door approach, share a mini lesson about the restoration, and then the person at the door responds and I only get an impression as to whether they are interested or not. If they don’t seem interested but listened to what I said I invite them to church and give them a little map I made so they can find it, and no when we meet. I can usually tell if we get a flat rejection, and then we just say buenos tardes and leave.
When we get home I’m going to write a book about the Senior Missionary Experience. Maybe, if I get it published it will motivate more senior couples to get off the couch or their backsides and go on a mission.

Love to all,
Mom and Dad.

2007-08-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

sorry we tried to upload the pictures we had, but it didn´t work? I´ll try again this afternoon while mom gets her hair permed...better say an extra prayer for mom.

2007-08-20T09:24:00.001-05:00

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Second Blog from Mexico.

We are back out on the streets of our Barrio, and looking for families to baptize. We have four and a half sets of investigators as of now. We say four and a half, because we have a single forty-five year old doctor/body builder who says he is interested, but has failed to make any of his commitments.

I am feeling much better, still healing slowly, but feeling stronger every day. Mom’s foot continues to bother her, and I continue to rub it down with arsenic ointment every night and pray for it to go away. She had a priesthood blessing about four weeks ago for it, but it continues to swell up each day. She doesn’t let it slow her down too much.

We have discovered a new (to our knowledge) Mexican tradition. The daughters of Mexican families are honored at two different times in their lives by huge parties and family celebrations. When they are three, the family throws a huge fiesta for them. They put up tents, hire caterers and entertainment, complete with blow up slides trampolines and bungie cords. After the guest of honor retires for the evening the adults break out the booze and the party really gets started. The party goes on `til the wee small hours. The next big event in a young woman’s life is when she turns fifteen. Another big fiesta, this time the guest of honor has an escort of an entourage of young men dressed in military uniforms complete with swords. Their sole purpose is to see that their young lady dances every dance and is never neglected during the evening. No expense is spared in these extravaganzas. The fathers either save for years to provide these parties for their daughters, or else they go into debt. This must be a tremendous hardship on the family finances, as the people in this neighborhood only average about 7500 pesos ($750 a month) To make it they have to have two incomes. With small children it means the dad works two jobs, Many men work 16 hours a day 7 days a week.

We are staying busy, tracting and finding people to teach and baptize. We love it here, the people are very friendly and they are very approachable. We tracted into our very first JW yesterday. She was just home from church and full of the spirit. She was very friendly and invited us in. Then she tried to convert us. I tried to be very patient once I figured out what was going on. I realized that we were wasting valuable time. I finally just bore my testimony to her about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith, and I invited her to church and then I stood up, 6ft 2in. She stood up, 5ft 2in and invited us to church, we parted on friendly terms. She knows she won’t see us in her church and we know we won’t see her in our church. But we’ll see her in the hereafter, and then she will see the light and hopefully listen to the word.

We hope we will see some posts on this site and comments to our blogs. I hope Cordell will make the blog available to all the immediate family. I’ll study the e-mail about the blog and see if there is anything I can do to make this possible. In the meantime I hope this will work as a means of communication for the family. But, you can always count on Mom’s weekly letters, if and when they get there.

I’m going to try and insert some photos of our new apartment and our old apartment. So you can see what a huge improvement we have made at no additional cost. What a blessing. We are very comfortable here, I hate to think how this last few weeks would have been in our old apartment.

Well enough for now. We will look forward to hearing from you all.

Love Dad and Mom

First Post from Mexico

2007-08-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Where to begin? This is my first blog entry anywhere, because I never thought I’d ever have to resort to a blog. Well I guess there is a first time for almost everything.
We have been here in Mexico city for 3 going on 4 months now, and it has been a very memorable experience. Just in case our memories become unreliable we are both writing in our journals almost every day. Our first week here was a little scary, and closer to what we had thought it would be like before we left home than what it is now. To explain this let me take you on a little journey.

We landed about 4 hours late at the Mexico city airport. ( 9pm instead of 5pm May 11th) It took almost 3 hours to get through customs and immigration. When we finally emerged into the International greeting area, we were so relieved to see President Castillo’s smiling face. He was soon joined by his wonderful wife, and we proceeded to retrieve our luggage. Then we took our luggage carts to the parking area and loaded them into their SUV. Sister Castillo had prepared us a nice warm supper to eat on the return two hour trip to our apartment.

The drive was more like an amusement park ride than a drive. Even at midnight on a Friday night in Mexico City the traffic is dense and wild. I honestly think that there are no rules of the road for Mexican drivers. President Castillo said, “Mexican drivers are not polite, so if I want to get anywhere in this traffic, I can not be polite either.”
When we got to Cuatitlan we met up with another SUV driven by the assistants to the President. We arrived at our apartment, and they got us settled for the night. The apartment was stark, bare bones, furnished by the good sister castillo, four walls, a bed, two folding chairs, three tables (1 to eat off – and 2 to study on), a small refrigerator, a two burner hot plate, some kitchen utensils – pots – pans - plates etc., and an ironing board and iron. There were no curtains on the windows, and no shower curtain and only cold water, so sister Castillo said they would pick us at 7 am in the morning so we could shower before our orientation meeting at the Mission home.

We had a hard time sleeping the first night and when morning came we were in a strange land with strange sounds all around us and we were very tired, but ready to start our work as missionaries. At the mission home we showered and met the office staff, and assistants to the President. Our zone leaders were there, and also the other senior missionary couple, who are in another zone, but we sneak in a monthly visit with them anyway. The meeting was all in Spanish, and we understood only a small part of it. As the weeks go by we understand a little more each week, but we rely heavily on the English speaking elders to help us. We have also found a few members who speak a little English and they are very helpful. All the other English speaking missionaries are paired up with Spanish speakers as companions, and this allows them to get their Spanish faster.

At first our apartment seemed very stark, and we were not very comfortable, the toilet leaked and the boiler, whom I named Rudio, was very difficult to get along with. I had to start to light him at least 45 minutes to an hour before we wanted to shower. 1st turn on the gas, then in 5 or 10 minutes light the pilot light, then in 15 or 20 minutes light the boiler itself. Then in 30 minutes there was enough hot water to start our showering, Marjorie took a 7-1/2 minute shower and I took what ever hot water was left. We also discovered that when it rained really hard, about every other day, the roof leaked. It wasn’t too bad, just annoying. Nothing critical was located under the leaks. The mission home paid for our first months rent and then after a month we paid our rent on June 11th.

As time passed we began to feel comfortable in our apartment and decided that we would spend the money to furnish it with more comfortable seating and dinning arrangements. The neighbors were very friendly, and we met our landlords, who were members of the church, and very nice. They fixed the toilet, and we decided that this apartment would be just fine for as long as we were here. We wanted to baptize all of our neighbors, and we just needed to adjust our life style and learn to get along with much less than we had become accustomed to thinking were necessities.

At first we just walked around the colony greeting the people and talking to those we found who wanted to talk to us. I guess we were somewhat of a novelty. We had learned after our first Sacrament meeting that there was no way we would be able to understand any of the responses we might get if we just knocked on peoples doors. The first time we went tracting with the elders, on our third door, the man invited us into his house. WOW! What an experience. This was a golden moment of missionary work, and it only gets better as time goes on. His house was exactly like our house, except it was furnished, simply, but comfortably. This was an absolutely golden couple. Six weeks later, after several dozen mini visits, and at least 12 or 14 lessons, I baptized Eduardo Alanis, and elder Rubio baptized Angelica Ordaz (Mexican women retain their maiden names when they marry). What a thrill. This was not our first baptism in Mexico, but it was the first one in which we had been active participants in the teaching experience. The actual first baptism was a 14 year old girl, Alejandra, who had not wanted to get baptized when her family was in January. I’m not sure if she actually wanted to do it, or if her parents restricted her freedom until she was baptized. She seems rebellious, but she said if I would baptize her she would do it. She asked for a private baptism on a Friday afternoon, and would only allow her family and the witnesses to see the baptism. Then it took three weeks to get her to church for the confirmation, and she hasn’t been back since. We visit her and her family weekly, and we see the mother and her brother in church each week. The father has been ill and is unable to attend. I hope someday when Alejandra has grown up a little that she appreciates what an amazing gift she has received from her Heavenly Father, and that it will make a big difference in her life.

Just before we were supposed to pay our July rent, the sister, Luci, who lived behind us, and who has been so kind and helpful to us, came over across the roof to give Marjie her monthly B-12 shot (Luci is a nurse, and we love her). She noticed that there was a lot of mold growing on our ceilings and walls. She was quite concerned about this. She asked us what we were paying for rent, when we told here she was shocked. A day or two later she told us that her next door neighbor wanted to rent their apartment, completely furnished and much more comfortable for the same price as we were paying. We looked at the apartment, and were very impressed with how much better it was. To make a long story short we signed papers, with the help of the zone leaders, and moved the day our rent was due.

We have been in our new digs for about 5 weeks now, and we love it. We have had a family home evening for some new members here, and the zone leaders come here on Sunday evening to receive their reports. The Perez family have become more endeared to us, and the work is going along quite well. I had to take 3 weeks off for an infected gland at the tip of my spine. I didn't know what it was at first and thought it would just go away, but it continued to get worse for a little over a week. Then on the 22nd I finally asked the elders for a blessing, and that night around 3 or 4 in the morning it ruptured, and the intense pain began to subside. We called the mission doctor and he diagnosed it over the phone and told us how to treat it. I was beginning to think that I had a dreaded Mexican parasite, but was told by the good doctor that this is a common human ailment that could affect anyone anywhere. It has left me with a hole at the base of my spine about the size of a quarter and at least an inch deep. This will take some time to heal, but I can live with it until it does.

This week we took up our tracting in search of investigators once more. We have become much more proficient with our door approach and inviting people to attend church with us. We came up with 3 possibly 4 new investigator families to teach. Oddly enough one of the couples who showed up at church today, we found are named Eduardo and Angelica. Mom thinks that we were called here to baptize all the Eduardo’s and Angellica’s in Mexico.

We want you all to know how much we love and appreciate all your love support and prayers. We love being missionaries in Mexico, and we love these special people who are truly God’s chosen people. Those who have been prepared to receive the gospel are so humble and teachable, and the are such kind, generous, and loving spirits, we can’t help but open our hearts and our arms to embrace them and welcome them into God’s kingdom on earth.

After I become more accustomed to the blog site I will be enclosing pictures of the old and the new digs, and also a couple of shots of us so you know we are still alive and kicking.

Love Mom and Dad

How Posts and Comments Work

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When a post is made it shows up on the blog main page and then anyone with the blog address can look at it.

After that, anyone can add a comment to that post and the comment will be posted on the blog so that anyone can read the comment.

To read all of the comments on a given post, just click on the main subject line and all of the comments will appear.

This will make it possible for Mom and Dad to post common information to this blog and not have to duplicate the effort. It also gives everyone the chance to post comments and see what has been sent to Mom and Dad. If everyone uses this blog it should cut down on duplication of effort and help everyone know what mom and had have seen at least here. Cordell