Down here in Tapachula and Tutlxa! 5 months on our mission!!!

Thursday, Apr. 9th

THOUGHT:  "WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I CHOSE TO BE HAPPY...
                          RATHER THAN DEMANDING TO BE RIGHT?"      Linda K. Burton

So the fun began today!  We got up early and drove to the Temple and parked our car there.  The Pococks - who live there- drove us to the airport so we could catch our flight to Tapachula by 9 am.
The air was so smoggy today you could hardly see the city as we took off!  I took a pic of Popo the big volcano for you to see!  We arrived down in Tapachula around 11:30 and had to wait outside in the humid heat for President and Sister George.   We were next to the border of Guatemala.  We had a nice time with the Georges today.  They took us to the Holiday Inn and we unpacked, then off to explore the city.  We went to the beach and saw the ocean.  They don't take care of their beaches here!  Garbage everywhere!  We drove around there and then went to the ranch where the big rock that has the Tree of Life carved in it!  The people found it somewhere down there, but haven't taken care of it so it is all worn down.  You can hardly see it anymore!  There is a live tree there in the meadow that looks so beautiful.  It looks like it is trying to compete with the tree of life! HA!  I also took pics of the animals and other things in the yard.  The tree of life stone is owned by a family, not the government so it is on a family ranch!  They finally covered it to protect it a little!  We also visited Dr. Arriaga that takes care of the missionaries in that neck of the woods!  We saw his tiny clinic and took a few pics there as well.  He is such a nice, friendly guy!  I can see why the missionaries love him! We went to a taco shop and had tacos and quesadillas for dinner with jamica to drink!
Good times in the heat and humidity!

This is Greg's favorite mountain - Popo!
Covered in smog!

The front of the little clinic in Tapachula
Dr. Arriaga

Greg wanted to try out the office chair in the Dr's office!

The Georges on the right -
the Arriagas in the middle and us!
Would you like sitting in this Dr's office
if you were sick - with these green walls???

Driving around the city - just a colorful house!

This monument stands in the middle of the city
The inside is the shape of a crayon!
No one knows what this monument is for!

That green blob growing on the trunk is
cacao - chocolate!

This is the yard or ranch where the Tree of Life stone is!

You have to have a Guadeloupe shrine
in your yard! Duh!

Really cool plants down here!

This is the Tree of Life carved stone
You can see carved waves at the bottom
of the big stone and the tree in the middle!
Too bad they didn't take better care of this!

I love this huge cool tree!
This is probably what the tree of life looks like!

They call this a living fence!
A bunch of plants and bushes growing together!

A baby chick walking around the yard.

The King! (or at least he thinks he is the king!)

Other carved heads!
I don't know the story behind these -
they were just sitting in the yard!

The lady that owns the property!

A big coconut laying on the ground!

From this tree!

As we were driving to the beach we came across a pyramid!
Out in the middle of nowhere

At the beach - if you can see the land far off -
that is Guatemala!

Greg is still very happy to be on this mission!

This is what I was dealing with at the beach!!!

I love this lighthouse

A stand where you can buy floaties to get in the ocean with!

We drove around the area by the beach and here are some
beach houses I found!

A view of the area with the lighthouse!
The ocean is off to the right!

This is how we finished off a fun sightseeing day!
Tacos and Jamica juice!

Friday, Apr. 10th   OUR 5 MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

We were up and off to a big zone conference in Tapachula!  The missionaries are cute as ever here.
The meeting went well, just all day!  These are long days when I have to sit and listen in Spanish all day!  The missionaries love to talk to me!  They all try to teach me Spanish words and give me advice!   I love them!  I sure have met a lot of missionaries from Utah!  Greg saw a few of the missionaries after the zone conference that were sick!  I took care of one Elder that had a fever and kept throwing up all day!  A lot of the missionaries get Chikunguna down here!  It is a very bad bug they get from mosquito bites.  They get fevers, swollen joints, dizziness, headaches, rash!  It is a bad deal and a lot of these kids are getting it!  Sometimes they don't feel good for 6 months.  Bummer!!!
They all take it in stride and try to work hard preaching the Gospel!  Then there is the sister in another mission up north that swallowed a needle.  She said on accident yesterday, but told the mission President today that she did it intentionally so she could go home!  I'll bet that was a fun endoscopy to get that thing out!  She should just try talking to the President if she wants to go that bad!
We left the church about 3 pm to drive to Tuxtla.  We had the AP's with us so it was a packed car and we had a 5 1/2 hour drive, but then added another 2 hours to make a stop to see a sister that is having ear problems.  Oh my it was hot there!  I took pics of their house, but can't begin to tell you how hot it is in there.  At least 105 inside!!!  No fans, no nothing!  No wonder they don't feel good!
I would die!  We finally made it to the Presidents house about 10 pm.  There are sisters staying there for health reasons and they fixed us dinner which was very nice!
Adios!

This is a huge mango tree on the church property!

All the mangos falling all over the basketball court at the church!

Also an avocado tree!
This fruit was too high to reach!
We did pick up a few mangos to eat!

Driving out of Tapachula

Beautiful trees and plants

Not sure!

Church is Chihuates-
the town where the sisters are
that need their ears looked at!

I love seeing the horse and wagon sight!

Sisters in front of their house!

Another horse and wagon!
This town has them everywhere!

The sisters living room!
It is quite a big room

Their kitchen!
Those orange squares up on the wall are
tape covering up some holes in the walls

A brick archway to their backyard!
Can you see the guy in the hammock over there???

This is my favorite! Their kitchen sink faucet!

There are also a bunch of those little motorcycle things
that are used as taxis!

Here is a sad place because drug people were
fighting and 3 people got killed in these shops!
No missionaries were hurt but there were
Elders here that saw it all happen!

Nos Vamos!