65 days in Mexico but who's counting!

Monday, Jan 26th

THOUGHT:  Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. –              John Lennon

So here it is again - Monday!  The days are starting to move a little faster.  My attitude is changing since my friends went home last week!  They both went home to cars that didn't run, houses full of disasters, and back to their crazy lives!  Missionary life isn't so bad after all!  The worst part of this life is not being busy enough!  Some days are busy and they are great days!  When we go play - that is a great day!  Even then sometimes I get tired walking around as much as we do!  Poor me!
 I am still loving being in my new house!  I love my window more every day!  There is a breeze tonight so I am extra thrilled!  Now if all of my grandkids would come down and stay with me life would be perfect!
We got up a little early, walked over to the area offices and got a taxi with the Elders to go to Immigration to get our Visa's!  We had to wait for quite awhile, but finally got our fingerprints, pics and papers in order.  We should get our Visa's in 2 days.  I am happy about that because then I can get my Mexican drivers license!  YAY!  Not that it matters - even one teenie, weenie bit, but I will be legal in case some ding dong runs into me or I run into them for the fun of it!  Some days I feel like running them over with my cute little church car!  Is that a good attitude for a missionary to have?  Probably not, but don't judge until you come down here and drive with me!
We came home after that so Greg could do some medical work with some missionaries!  I read and took a nap!  In the afternoon I drove the Andersons over to the bakery to buy a flan for the FHE treat tonight!  We just came right back home, ate dinner I had made in the crockpot and went to FHE.  The Toblers gave the lesson.  He is a retired dentist and our FHE lesson was on brushing and flossing our teeth.  He says lots of the missionaries don't brush or floss, so he is giving everyone the lesson.  He sold us on electric toothbrushes, so we are off to Costco tomorrow to pick us up some!
Dad still have his cough and snotty body, so we are off the bed!
Nos vemos!



Tuesday, Jan 27th

We had to get up extra early this morning.  We had to drive for an hour to make it to a zone conference of the south mission by 9 am.  There was an accident on the freeway, so guess what?  we were late!  Oh well, one of these days we will get the time right!  But good news - we didn't get lost today!  That's a good day driving for sure!!!  Greg taught the missionaries about the 10 commandments of good health.  Hopefully they all listened because they need a good reminder of how to take care of themselves!  After that first meeting, the zones broke up into sections and the President, and another couple taught the missionaries mission stuff!  I sat and listened, but guess what?  Yep it was all in Spanish!  I am starting to get the gist of the conversation so that is good!  Sis. Valadez - the mission pres. wife had told the missionaries that were sick or had medical questions they could see the Dr.  He had a bunch lined up to see him.  He spent the next 1 1/2 hours checking them for whatever their problems were!  He had fun!  You all can just see him now can't you?
He got every body taken care of and we left around 2 pm.  It took us a little while to get home in the traffic.  We stopped at Costco to get our new toothbrushes and some milk!  We ate lunch at Wendy's. Greg got a hamburger - the best one he has tasted since he got here!  Hamburgers aren't really that good here!  They don't know how to fix them!  We got home, got stuff put away and took a little nap! I am trying to come down with Greg's bug, but I am fighting really hard to keep it away!!!
We had a light dinner and went to the exercise room for some exercise.  Actually, I did18 flights of stairs up and down, up and down and now I am pooped!  Greg did the treadmill!  Now he is sitting on the couch, coughing up a lung!  So much for exercise for him!  We have another day of early zone conferences in the morning so I am going to drag Greg to bed and make him sleep!!!
Hasta Luego!
Here are some pics of my new house!

A close up look at the window with lovely wall 2 feet away!
I'm thinking about climbing out there and putting some
pictures or plants or something on that wall!
Maybe a mural!

See, if you look up you can see the big building across the street way over there!
Also, you can see the sky and tell what kind of day it will be!

Our new bathroom!
Smaller than the last one but see the white square above the sink?
Yes!!  Another window that we can stick our heads out of!

Our little bathroom window!

This pic is taken from the dining table to the right of the kitchen!
That is my closet straight on next to the 2 water bottles.
On the right side are 2 cabinets with the oven and storage!
I have lots more storage than before!

Taken from the front door!
See my beautiful flowers and the kitchen!

Taken from the kitchen back towards the front door!
I guess it's time to put my Christmas tree away!
I wanted to keep it up all year, but Greg is a party pooper!!!
and wants me to put it away!
There is my whole new house!

A room with a view and Happy 1st birthday Max!

Friday, Jan 23rd,

THOUGHT:  "PUT YOUR HEART, MIND AND SOUL INTO EVEN YOUR SMALLEST ACTS.
THIS IS THE SECRET TO SUCCESS!"                                  Swami Sivananda

Friday started out as our usual Friday - We went to the temple clinic - it was a slow day in the clinic and Peg went and learned how to crochet an Afghan - her next project.  We brought the Anderson's home but stopped at Costco for some purchases and lunch (they have the hotdog and drink for $1.75 US.  We than came home and started moving to our room with a view.  It is all on one floor and has a window to the outside.  (Never mind that all we see is the wall of the next door casino.)  Saturday started early with all the couples in the hotel helping us move.  Of course mom slept in and was in the shower when everyone got there.  We finished in about 1 hour except that everything was in boxes.  The Rices wanted to go to Chapultepec park and see the Botanical Gardens.  They were disappointing but the lake was beautiful.  We caught a taxi  to cross the main freeway to the other side of the park where there is another lake with a beautiful restaurant where they had a wonderful buffet on the edge of the lake.  We made it home late and had a movie night at the Anderson's - The Inn of 6th Happiness (1958 movie with Ingrid Bergman.)  Sunday was usual - Spanish church at 9 and settling in afterwards - empty boxes etc.  Mom made a great dinner and that was it.
This is Peg - so I decided to assign Greg to write for this weekend and that is what you get!  He got a lecture from me and will have to work harder next week, or he may lose his job doing the blog!
Saturday was little Max's 1st birthday and all the kids were together for the first time since I left!  That was so fun to see them together!   I don't think they miss us any more!😂  I guess that is a good thing but I miss them still!!  Max is growing up so big, so fast!  He is the happiest little guy on the planet!
I have put together a Fast Sunday dinner schedule for all the couples here! Sunday afternoons are pretty boring!  I think I miss my family the most on Sundays because I loved it when they all came over and spent the evening!  I couldn't get enough of the noise and confusion!  Someday their parents will understand, I hope!!!  So I am making all the couples get together and bring something for the dinner just to have some noise and someone to talk to - you all know how good Greg is at conversing!- Just like this blog he wrote!
Hasta Luego!

Look at these beautiful flowers we bought off the street for
about $3.50

Here we are with the Rices at Chapultapec Park on Saturday.
We should have been home unpacking our junk, but
we decided it was more fun to go play!
Heck we have 15 more months to unpack!!

Greg said - take a pic of the lake in the park with those
big, beautiful buildings in the background!
Whatever!

A selfie in the Jardin Botanical gardens in the park!

One funky looking cactus in the gardens!
I think we went to the gardens at the wrong time of year!
Nothing is in bloom!

A big greenhouse in the gardens, full of pretty plants with
stained glass windows in the roof!
Pretty fancy!

Really??? A cup full of spicy crickets for a snack!
Being sold at the park!  YUM!

We went to a different lake in the park - much prettier
and less green and slimy than the last lake!

We ate lunch at a buffet at the Miridium Restaurant
See the lake behind us!
It was a very nice, sunny warm day!
Muy bien Mexico!

HERE IT IS!
THE ROOM WITH THE VIEW!
THE REST OF THE PICS ARE COMING TOMORROW!
YAY!

Bad Drivers!

Wednesday, Jan 21st -

THOUGHT:  The mind is everything. What you think you become.  –Buddha

Today we walked to the office to do a little work!  I got a new job!  I am scanning a book about the Mexico Temple for the Matas - the church history missionaries!   They are such a cute couple who don't speak English.  They are always trying to make me speak Spanish so we clash!!  I heard she wants to speak english so I teach her things like - see you later, alligator!  It is funny to hear her pronounce it!  I scanned over 100 pages and got tired of that!  It was time to go to my spanish class anyway!  I am the one that got the class put together and going but have sluffed for the past 2 weeks! I was going to sluff this week, so they moved it to Wednesday so I could come!  The first week I had to go with Greg to meet a mission president and wife!  Last week was when we went with the Olsons to the Basillica of Guadeloupe and downtown!  This Thursday I have to take the Ellis's to the airport to go home to Logan!😂  I am the only one that drives around here so we got nominated!
The spanish class was very fun!  Sis. Sandberg is the teacher.  She is bilingual and has taught English and Spanish for a long time!  Sis. Tobler, Sis Rice, Bro. & Sis. Mata and I were in the class today.  We worked on numbers.  The people down here say their numbers very fast.  We switch with the Matas - we speak spanish to them and they speak english to us!  We laugh a lot at each other!
Great fun!!!   I will never speak very good Spanish!
In the afternoon we had to drive quite a long way to a hospital to check on an Elder that had appendicitis!  We got there and agreed that he needed surgery.  He has only been in the field for 5 weeks.  He is from Preston Idaho.  Poor guy!  Welcome to Mexico! That trip took us all afternoon and we only got lost once!  Good record!  Actually we had another Elder later that night with appendicitis, but his wasn't as bad and didn't need surgery! People are starting to hear about Elder McBride.  He was in the Merida mission.  He was playing soccer with ward members and investigators.  He went to get the ball, collapsed and died!  He had a massive heart attack.  Poor family and poor missionaries!  We are praying for them!
I invited the Sandbergs over for dinner.  We had Hawaiian pork and rice bowls!  Good Night!

DRIVING TIP;  Use your eyes in the back of your head at all times to not kill the motorcycles that sneak up and zoom past you!  They scare me to death!  I am just waiting to see one of them spread all over the road!



Thursday, Jan 22nd -

THOUGHT:   "LIFE IS A LONG LESSON IN HUMILITY!"

 WOW!  It's our 2 month in Mexico anniversary!  Greg went all out and bought flowers today again for me!  Actually it was a little peer pressure from the Sandbergs, but I will take them any way I can get them!  They are so pretty!  It cost about $7 for two dozen roses here!
Today was another busy day!  I love busy days!  We had to pack up the Ellis's and drive them to the airport.  They have served an 18 month mission and are going home today!  They saw time went slow while they were here, but now that they are going home, they can't believe where the time went!  That's the way it goes!! We took the Olsons on Tuesday. They emailed the Ellis's this morning and told them that they got selected to go through all of security!  For 1 1/2 hours the Olsons stood there and watched and waited while the security people went through everything in all of their carry ons!  They went through their scriptures  page by page - bible too!  Dumb stuff!  They almost missed their plane!  Glad we got them there early!  So we got the Ellis's there with 4 hours to go before they took off!!  I hope everything went OK with them and they made it home safe and sound!  It is lonely around here without those two couples!  We got back home, picked up stuff around our place, ate lunch and then we were off again with the Sandbergs.  They wanted to go to the MTC here in Mexico City.  We needed to go to the distribution center that is up there so we took off on a little afternoon adventure!  The MTC here is very peaceful and nice!  Almost too quiet!  I said I would never be able to live there for 18 months!  Way too calm for me!  I need my noisy grandkids around to keep my blood pressure up so I can function!!!  We had a nice visit with Dr. Gill and the Sandbergs had fun as well!  They were so grateful we took them around they offered to take us to dinner!  We went to Sanborns by where we live and had enchilada swissas   I spent the rest of the evening going through stuff that has been laying around the place and I took the ornaments off the Christmas tree that is still lit all the time!  Christmas really goes until Feb. 2nd around here so I am still celebrating!!!
We had to go to the Whiteheads mission home tonight to see a sister missionary who fell in the shower this morning and knocked herself out for a few minutes, then had convulsions after that!  She spent the day in the hospital getting a CT scan.  She will be OK, but will have to take it easy for a few days.  The two sisters get to stay at the West Mission home with the Whiteheads.  The mission homes down here are very lovely and huge!  Maybe I will bump my head!!!   Greg is off to bed.  He doesn't feel very good today.  He has a bad cough and is achey all over.  Great = the doctor is sick!  Now what!  
DRIVING TIP;  Watch out when cars pull in front of you from the left lane and keep on going to the right lane - only to crash into the car in that lane!!!  That was very fun to watch today!

Monday, Monday! and then Tuesday too!

Monday, Jan 19th -

We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.
Helen Keller

Time seems to be ticking away!  Today was the usual!  Greg heard there was a devotional in the Area offices so he went to that at 7:30 this morning!  At 10:00 am we went to visit President Annaya and his wife.  He is president of the Mexico City East Mission.  We (Greg) had a nice spanish visit with him about the health of his missionaries!  The temple clinic is in the East mission so the missionaries have it pretty easy - medically!  In the afternoon we started out to walk about a mile down the street to the Telmex store to change our address since we are moving this Saturday!!!  YEAH I get a window!  Anyway we only got part way and Greg got a call from an Elder waiting at the hospital for an X-ray order.  We had to walk back, get the car and spend 45 min driving in traffic to the hospital to give the Elder an order!  Why can't those people use a phone??????  It took us another 45 min to drive back after a 3 min visit with the Elder!  Thats what we do here people!!!!
I fixed a yummy hawaiian pork bowl for dinner.  We had FHE with the gang!  It was sad because it was farewell to the Olsons and Ellises.  We took a big pic with all of us!  I will post it when I get it!
Hasta luego!
DRIVING TIP:  When the light turns green, step on the gas and go as fast as you can all the way up to 20 feet, then slam on your breaks!  That tells everybody you are serious about getting where you need to go!!!
Here are some more pics from Thursday!

Pic at the Post Office

We then walked over to the National Art Museum!
It is sinking too!

 Tuesday, Jan 20th -

 I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. –Maya Angelou

BooWhoo!  Today is a sad day!  We got up, got the van from the church and loaded up the Olsons with their 8 suitcases plus carryons and drove them to the airport!  I can't believe they are leaving us! I feel like my parents left me! Ha!  They have taken such good care of us - showing us all around, taking us places, feeling full of information about Mexico!  I can't believe they have been on 3 missions here!  They came on an 18 month mission, then went home for 3 months then back for another 18 months.  Then they went back home for another 18 months, then back down here for another 18 months - almost 5 years!!  They knew everything about where to go and what to do around here!  We will be going back to being lost in space here!  They lived next door to us and it is very quiet tonight over there!  Sad😂  We got home, Greg did a little mission stuff and then we finally got our walk in by walking down to Telmex like we were suppose to yesterday.  Hopefully they will be able to change our WiFi to our new place before too long!!!  We spent a quiet night in our place trying to avoid the State of the Union speech!!
Nos Vemos!

Last pics from Thursday -

Pics from the 42nd floor of the Latin American tower
I took pics in every direction and you see the
same thing---- city as far as the eye can see!!!

There is the National Cathedral
where we toured the bell tower and roof top!

Mostly downtown! the city goes on forever - 35,000,000 people
out there

Hard to see in the smog but between us is the Mexico City Temple out there!!! It is there
in the diamond just above my arm.

Another weekend in Paradise!

Friday, Jan 16th -

I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life, than on the nature of those events themselves.
Baron Alexander von Humboldt

We got up and had to head to the Temple for our clinic day!  I almost got us on the right road, but NOT!  Cars were going every which way, trying to get on the freeway here and I couldn't move over into the right lane fast enough to get on the right road.  We sat in traffic for an extra 20 min or so, but still made it to the temple almost on time!!!  It was another slow day.  Luckily, not too many sick missionaries!  I guess we should be happy for that, it just makes our day go by slower!  I try to call Elaine on Fridays when I am at the clinic waiting for Greg.  She is doing OK, sounds great and wants to come down here to see all of the stuff we talk about here!  She needs to get her sons to bring her down here!!!   We did have a fun afternoon because after the temple clinic we walked over to the Pococks house for lunch.  They had invited us over after we were done!   I love the Pococks and Smiths.  They are friends and both from Idaho Falls!  They are the missionaries that help plan all of the EFY's for all of Mexico.  One couple has the north and the other one has the south!  They divide up the EFY sessions according to the mission boundaries.  They will have close to 1,000 kids at one of these for a week in the summer!  There are lots of baptisms that come from this activity.  The kids bring their non-members and they go from there!  Good work!  I also love the Pococks apartment because of the big windows.  The sunshine is such a good thing!   After a yummy lunch Sister Smith showed us what she has been up to - she has made the most beautiful afghans by crocheting them!  I am going to have her teach me how to do that so I can make my grandkids each one!  That should only take me 1,000 years or so, but I will at least have something to do during the day!!!  There is other stuff I am going to start doing with the history department of the church here - copying records or something!  I am happy to serve how ever I can!
We took too long admiring the afghans and had to hurry home to meet the Toblers and Rices to walk to Costco!  We didn't have such a problem for a long time driving home from the temple until we got to the last main road we need to drive up!  It took us 50 min. to get up this one street to get home!  The traffic is horrendous!  I was so frustrated by the time we got home I couldn't even speak! (now thats frustrated)  Luckily the other couples had waited for us and so I got to walk it off.  It took us about 45 min to walk down the street to Costco.  We did a little shopping and had a hot dog for dinner there - just like at home!!  We caught a taxi with the Rices and had Mr. Toads wild ride back home!
That was enough for one day!  Nos Vemos!  (we will see you soon!)


Here are some more pics from our Thursday adventure!

It's hard to tell but the buildings are sinking.

Pope John Paul II came to visit a few years ago
so they threw up a statue of him!!!

The center isle of the old cathedral!
People still crawling on their knees.
Also people are worshipping on their knees!

This painting is huge!
The people in it are close to life size!

OK!  Another depiction  of baby Jesus!
Pink?  Lace?  

This alter is in the 2nd church here.
The alter is made of pure silver from Tasco!
All the stuff behind is gold!!!

Jesus high up on the wall!
All the faces of children around Him
are angels helping him fly!!!

Saturday - Jan 17th

A light heart lives long.
William Shakespeare

I really wanted to sleep in a little, but the phone started ringing early and didn't stop all morning!  Greg took care of medical stuff and went to get a haircut!  At noon we picked up the Andersons and took them to the big fancy mall where the ice skating rink is!  They wanted to see the mall so we walked around for a little while, had lunch at Chilis and did a little clothes shopping!  Sis Anderson was very excited to see she could get new clothes and shoes!  She is already sick of her missionary clothes!  I have zero expectations about my clothes so I am not looking yet!
We headed over to Walmart for a little down to earth shopping!  A few veggies later we were on our way home!  By the way - if you need your car washed, go to Walmart!  Guys are waiting there to wash your car while you shop!  Perfect plan!  So we had a nice clean car as well!!
Tonight we had a spanish ward party and dinner!  We got to the church at 5:20.  The party started at 5:00 and it finally got going about 6:15!  Welcome to Mexico!  There are a lot of American families in the spanish ward that want their kids to learn spanish so they go to this ward!  Thank heavens for the senior couples and the Americans.  They are holding this little ward together!!  Dinner included about 5 different dishes I have no idea what they were!  Needless to say I didn't eat very much!  Greg loved it all!
We got home, had to do laundry for the next 2 hours and I also put a pork roast in the crock pot to cook over night!  Wahooo!
Some more pics from Thursday!

This is the big main cathedral!
See how it tilts to the left and
is leaning forward!

The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost (dove)
with angels to help them fly

Depiction of the virgin Guadaloupe
with the Indians worshipping her!
This set up is out in the gardens!

Another chapel up on the hill next to the cemetery that was closed!

Up on the hill over looking the main cathedral

Still have their nativity up!

Now we left the Basilica and have driven downtown
to the old Post Office that is still functioning!
This is an old elevator!
Look at the beautiful staircase and ceiling!
It looks like a temple in here!

Sunday, Jan 18th -

THOUGHT;  "START BY DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY: THEN DO WHAT IS POSSIBLE;  AND SUDDENLY YOU ARE DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE              Francis of Assisi

I am doing the impossible and making Greg post today!  I will clarify if necessary!
We started church early - it was ward conference and we both sang in the choir.  Ward conference was great - the four missionaries leaving bore their testimony and the Stake President spoke on temple attendance.  It is so important to keep these families together and active.  The stake president is the temporal affairs director for the area as well.  I paid attention to the Sunday School lesson while Peg read her scriptures - the teacher talks fast and Peg only gets about 20% of it.  We then drove to a parking lot at a hospital which was close to Ana Maria Mendoza's home where we ate dinner.  She had prepared Pozoli - a Mexican soup.  It was really good.  Her husband is a wonderful man.  They have had a hard life.  They both had good jobs and were raising a family when their oldest at almost 15 came down with a rare type of aggressive cancer and died after 5 months of treatment.  The mom went into a terrible depression - lasting almost 5 years.  Her dad helped her through it but it took its toll on her other children.  She has a strong testimony but during her hard time no one came by to help her or even check up on her.  She has no bitterness in her soul but it still took its toll. After lunch they walked us back up the very narrow alley back to the hospital to get our car.  We had dinner with 8 of the 9 missionary couples - 2 couples go home this week.  They had a baptism at our ward - a family of four but we didn't make it to the service.  We have a lot to do tomorrow and retired early.

Pics of the Mendoza home where we had lunch today!
Still all decorated for the holidays until Feb 2nd!

Here is part of the cute family!
Ana, Gabe, husband and Sophie!

It's hard to see but behind Gabe is a long stairwell
you walk down to get to their house!
It is very skinny!
Ana says the kids go here to kiss!!!

It feels pretty good to hold this little bug Sophie!
I pretend these kids are my grandkids!
I miss my grandkids!

Another Play Day!

Thursday, Jan 14th -

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.Helen Keller


Wow!  We had an exhausting and very fun day today.  We asked the Olsons where they wanted to go for one last day here in Mexico!  WE ended up going to the Basilica of Guadeloupe.  This is the big church where people crawl on their knees every Dec. 12th for miles to worship They usually have bloody knees by the time they get there!  Millions of other people just walk for miles and miles to come here on Dec. 12th mainly because that is supposedly the day when she appeared to Juan Diego back in 1531.  People carry big banners of Guadeloupe plastered with flowers or tinsel.  Some carry big pictures of her on their backs too!  It is a big circus!  There is a big beautiful Basilica or cathedral that is very old and is sinking like everything else in Mexico!  All of the churches and buildings are sinking cause they were built on a lake bed!  One good earthquake and we could all end up in the lake! 😌  In 1975  they built a new modern church  where the shroud of Guadaloupe is hanging in a big huge gold frame.  There is a moving walkway so you can't clog up the spot in front of the shroud!  It doesn't look like it is from 1591  Who really knows about all this!  I took lots of pics I will spread out for the next couple of days for you to see!  There are 2 other little churches in the same area as the two big ones.  They are awesome to look at, but very gaudy with all the decor!  We walked around the churches and the beautiful gardens.  The old cemetery was closed! Bummer!  That's what I wanted to see!  The cemeteries down here have big headstones with all kinds of stuff built around the grave!  It would be so fun to do a savanna hunt in this cemetery!!!  HaHa!
After that we drove downtown and parked at the Bayes Artes - the big building where that folklore dance was we went to before Christmas.  We walked over to the old and first Post Office!  Beautiful building!  Then on to the National Art Museum.  Another beautiful building but full or art and we all know how I love walking around art museums!  Not my favorite!
We finally broke out of there and walked over to the House of Blue Tiles - Sanborns for lunch of Enchiladas suisas.  Then we walked over to the Latin American Tower and rode the elevator up to the 42nd floor to look out over the city!  It didn't matter which way you looked, all you could see is more big city!  WOW!  This town is big with the 35,000,000 people, about that many churches and twice that many cars!!!   🚕
We got back to our car, Elder Olson drove home and we all passed out from exhaustion!  Fun day!  I hope the Olsons had a fun time on their last day playing in the city!
Greg had lots of missionary medical stuff to catch up on so we stayed in tonight!
Hasta Luego!

worshippers at the Basilic

Basilica of Guadalupe - tilting way to the left and forward 

The shroud of Juan Diego

floral display made by worshippers

The podium in the new cathedral

Inside the new cathedral

Inside the new cathedral

Flowers in the cathedral

Inside the cathedral
Hard to see those two guys are carrying posters
on the front of them of Guadaloupe
People walk around like that with her picture
either on their front or their backs!