A mission is not for the faint of heart & My craft!

Saturday, May 23rd

THOUGHT:  The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Saturday just started out as an ornery day.  I have my big area training with 70 doctors from all over Mexico this weekend and we had one last meeting with my committee.  We nearly got in a couple of accidents on the way.  Peg tried to track down Cynthia Collier who was down here to help plan the pageant they will have at the time of the temple dedication but she didn't get the the temple grounds until after we had left.  We did our usual Saturday things - shopping, haircut, etc then walked down to our favorite taco restaurant for dinner with the new couple from Arizona.  On the way home I got a pleadingly desperate call from the office elder in one of our Mexico City missions that an elder was having emotional problems.  We dropped everything and went to the chapel where the assistants and his companion were trying to keep him from bolting.  He had a psychotic break and ended up bolting over a 20 foot high chain link fence, breaking his companions wrist who tried to stop him, was tackled by an assistant who played high school football and ended up catatonic in the parking lot of a large store.  The police came and luckily he was a member of the church - could have caused a lot of trouble for the mission.  The elder had cut his hand going over the fence and had blood all over his white shirt and the missionary who tackled him looked as bad.  The security in the parking lot were very concerned - they felt better as they watched us give him a blessing there on the ground.  The ambulance came and he was taken to the hospital.   When we got to the hospital the mission president traded shirts with the assistant with the bloody shirt who was going to have to stay the night so he wouldn't scare everyone with his bloody shirt.  It was wonderful to see a mission president giving an elder the shirt off of his back.  It breaks my heart to see anything like this take place but we have to remind ourselves that early 20's is when schizophrenia and bipolar diseases are manifest and we are going to get a sprinkling of this amongst the 7000 missionaries we have.  We got home about 11:30 and were exhausted but with lots of adrenaline flowing.  
There are NO PICS from today!  I don't want to remember this day!!!


Sunday - We went to church.  had the farewell of the son of one of our area seventies who is going to Tampa Bay Florida Spanish speaking mission - his English isn't so good so he has a bit to go.  We then left after sacrament meeting to visit the elder in the hospital - he was still pretty sedated and was not talking but tears streamed down his face as I talked to him about the atonement and he even smiled when I tried to crack a joke (to get emotion and try to get him to say something) but he had a much bigger response when Peg told him I really wasn't funny and it was ok not to laugh.  We hope we can get him stabilized and ready to go home in a day or two.  The companion with the broken wrist goes home Wednesday and is scheduled to baptize his best friend this Saturday.  I was telling his sick companion (trying to get him to show emotion) that I thought that he will need a white cast for the baptism but Peg said she thought a bright pink cast would be appropriate.  We came home where it took me 3 1/2 hours to go through my emails from this week and notes from last week to prepare my weekly report to Elder Schwitzer and the area presidency.  We have dinner with the Andersons and Griffens - mom made cinnamon rolls.  We will be able to get to bed a little earlier tonight unless there are issues at the hospital - it is about 25 minutes away.  
Love Dad

I finally got the pics from my 2 granddaughters that I have been waiting for!
I have been writing about my craft that I have been doing for the past few months.
I was able to surprise the girls with crocheted afghans that I have made them for their 12th birthdays this year!
Sister Smith has taught me how to crochet so I have been going strong!
I hope they like them and enjoy them forever!!!

Abigail - my beautiful blonde dancer with braces!
Birthday 4/17

Kaylee - my beautiful brunette basketball player with braces!
Birthday 8/4

I am the luckiest grandma in the world to have such beauties for granddaughters.
They are both so sweet and I love them dearly!!
Happy Birthday girls!!!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Thursday, May21st

THOUGHT:  What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Up and at it again this morning!  We packed up,  ate some breakfast and headed to the mission office to interview another doctor for the mission.  I tried to work on the blog there and eventually got a little done before it was time for us to head to the airport.  Our flight wasn't for awhile, but the President had tons of stuff to do so we had to go when he could take us.  We sat in a bar and drank cold water and watched little planes take off and land until it was time to go!  Our flight was uneventful and I didn't even get to sit in first class!😫
We got back to Mexico City, the Smiths picked us up again and we needed to hurry home because we had picked up some medication for a visiting authority - Elder Christensen that he needed for tomorrow morning.  We got home, delivered the medication ate some dinner and went to the Andersons for a movie night!  We watched The Proposal.  I love that show.  We got back and went to bed early - all this traveling has worn me right out!

Friday, May 22nd

Double groundhog day!  I don't hardly even know what day it is any more.  It seems to always be Sunday.  Oh well, Sundays are nice!  After breakfast we headed over to our usual Temple clinic time. Greg was able to see about 6 missionaries and I went to buy more yarn at our favorite yarn store with the Smiths.  Greg finished a little early and we took the Smiths to lunch for ALL the help they give us and all the trips back and forth to the airport.  They are incredible people.  We went to the Waffle and Crepe place over at the mall.  The salads are yummy and so are the chicken crepes.  Great lunch!
We came home after that - cleaned up around here and then went to dinner with all the gang from here to celebrate the Hobbs.  They leave June 10th.  We will miss them.   They are very helpful.  Sister Hobbs is from Argentina so we walked across the street from our hotel to an Argentinian Restaurant for her to enjoy.  The waiters were overwhelmed and dinner was quite chaotic.  I didn't care for the food and I was still full from lunch so it worked out for me.  I don't think we will be going there again to eat!  We got back and watched one of our TV shows we are following and got to bed a little early!!

Here we are at the Argentinian restaurant!
L-R
Toblers, Andersons, Munoz, Rices, Us, Hobbs, Griffins, Hackings, Sandbergs
The Senior Army!!!

Merida -

Monday, May 18th

THOUGHT: 
If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.

Paul Bryant

We were up early again and off to the airport!  Dejavu!  We were late getting to the airport because Greg had to go back to the bank where he got some cash out of the automatic teller machine.  Greg paid our fast offerings last Sunday and the Bishop called him the other day.  He had given the Bishop a counterfeit 500 paso bill.  There Greg goes again - trying to rip off the church!!!  He got caught this time!  HAHA!  So this morning Greg went back to the bank where he got the counterfeit bill to tell them the problem thinking full well that they would fix the problem!  BIG HAHA!  I'm not sure what Greg is thinking but I am sure they laughed and laughed at him after he left!  Well, the bank told him they would have to send the bill to the central bank in Mexico and they would get back to him!  Does anyone want to put bets on whether they will ever call him and make this right!  How many people do you think have gone into a bank with a counterfeit bill and explained they got it from the bank!  Greg thinks everyone here in Mexico is perfectly honest!  He needs a reality check!!!  You can kiss that bill and the money goodbye!  It is worth about $35.
Well, we made it to the plane in good time nonetheless!  The flight was uneventful and the Garcias were at the airport to meet us!  I love the Garcias - especially sister Garcia.  She is one spunky chick!
The doctor that has been seeing all the missionaries here in Merida just up and quit 2 weeks ago!  The reason we are here in Merida is to find new doctors and hospitals.  ( I guess that's the reason we are in Mexico all the way around!!)  Anywho.... they picked us up and off we went to the mission office.  Greg and President Garcia spent all afternoon calling Stake Presidents to get some names of doctors they could call.  They found a few and called for interviews. The mission office is next to the Merida Temple and a stake center.  We got to take a few pics of and around the temple.    Late afternoon we went to a fancy?? hotel with a restaurant in it.  We walked in and it was very warm and quiet.  Come to find out someone was doing maintenance on the electrical system.  All the power was out and it was getting hotter by the minute!  They promised the power would be back on in 10 min. so we sat down and ordered food!  Question??  Where has the food been while the power is out???  Don't answer that!  I don't want to know!  Just pray for us and our intestinal fortitude!!  Eventually - 30 min later the power came back on, I had heat stroke and we had a sandwich... and hopefully all is well!  Time will tell!  President Garcia drove us around Merida to see the sights.  We then went to the downtown square to watch some native dancing from this region.  We sat in a folding chair in the street for 3 hours - 2 hours waiting and 1 hour show! The dancers were great and we loved watching the dances.   The guys had gotten us some dinner from a nearby restaurant.  My sandwich wasn't very good so I saved myself a few calories!  We couldn't find where the guys parked the car afterward so we got a nice walk in!😬
We got to the mission home after dark.  This home is as nice as all the others we have seen.  I love how the church takes care of their very busy mission presidents and wives.  Sister Garcia tried to feed us a whole other dinner.  She is a true Mexican - trying to feed us every few minutes and insisting we eat everything while she watches.  I haven't seen her eat very much.  We had quesadillas and grape juice.  Buenos noche!

A big memorial in the center of Merida
The history of Mexico is carved into it
that goes all the way around!

Pretty building with clock tower!

Folklore dancers - dancing in the street!
They put this program on every Monday night!

The pig's head dance!

Add caption

Happy us!

President & Sister Garcia!
Sister Garcia is one classy chick!
She wears high heels 24 hours a day!
She is one of those that has a matching
purse with every outfit!
Oh My!!
But I couldn't find a sweeter lady in all the world!

A fancy dance with glass bottles and glasses
full of water on these trays in their heads!

They were spinning and twirling around!! 

Tuesday, May 19th

Today is Sister Garcias birthday!We were up early and off to a zone conference where the Garcias had almost 200 of their missionaries there.  Greg did his schpeel and I got to do something new and talk to and answer questions for the sister missionaries.  (about 50 of them)  We had a good visit and I was able to answer a lot of their questions so that turned out well.  Greg ended up seeing most of the missionaries that were at the meeting anyway.  They come up with the darndest things wrong with their bodies!
I wonder sometimes if they do much missionary work!  It appears they spend a lot of time examining their bodies for every little spot and bump and hair follicle!  Just go work already!!!
We literally spent the entire day talking to and taking care of missionaries. Then we needed to stop at the hospital to see a sister who couldn't stop throwing up.  There were about 8 other missionaries there getting tests done that Greg had ordered for them.  It was a party!   We do need to find some doctors here to take care of these people!  We got a late lunch at Chilis and went home to bed!
This was a very long day!

Mission Home backyard!
Great Pool!

Front door with a circle of cut glass

Front of home!  

Us with the Garcias!

Wednesday, May 20th
Groundhog day!  Another day of up early and we packed up and were off to Campeche.  This was a
2 1/2 hour drive away from Merida.  The zone conference there was much smaller and again I got to talk to the 8 sister missionaries there and Greg saw most all of the missionaries for one thing or another!  The church was hot cause they don't turn on the air conditioning in the whole building.  I had a nice visit with a bunch of the Elders and sisters while they were waiting to see Greg.  They are all so cute.  We were at that church until about 4 pm.  President was doing interviews so we had to wait for him to finish.  We went to another Chilis because Sister Garcia wanted the salad I got yesterday.  I was so thirsty - I drank and drank and drank!  It is hot here!  I feel bad for all the missionaries.  The heat and humidity is a killer!  I never did like the heat anyway - in Arizona!
We finally got back on the road and got home about 9:30.  This poor mission president couple - are so busy and have tons on their plate right now... along with sick missionaries.
We arrived home to find out the air conditioner in our room is not working!  UGH!  Luckily they have another room and we slept in there in the freezing air blowing on us!  Never a happy medium!

This is our drive to Campeche
This is suppose to be thick green jungle
but there is a drought here so this is sad!

The shoreline in Campeche
They haven't developed the beaches
so this isn't a beach town like Cancun

Another shoreline pic
It's hard to see the neat little
fishing boats out in the water

Look who came to our mission!
President Obama!
HAHA!  This poor Elder looks just like
Pres. Obama!  He gets a lot of grief!

The Elders were waiting for interviews with President!
They started singing and harmonizing here in the hallway!
They sounded great and Greg joined right in!

Our minute to enjoy ourselves

Saturday May 16th 

THOUGHT:  "I promise the bright light of Godly fear will chase away the dark shadows of mortal fears as we look to the Savior."                        Elder Bednar

My turn for the weekend.  We finished late Friday with the Kirkhams and drove to the Marriott resort in Cancun.  Had dinner in a sports bar and sat in the Hot tub until about 11.  We got up (not so early) and had a great buffet breakfast in the hotel which turned out to be complementary.  We then found some lounge chairs on the beach.  Read a couple of conference talks then just enjoyed the beach, then the pool and hot tub.  We had to check out of the hotel by one - stayed inside in the air conditioning until about 2 then found our way back to the rental car place and hopped on a plane to return to Mexico City.  It was nice to have our minute to enjoy ourselves.  Enjoy the pictures and try not to get jealous.

The Marriott Hotel at night as we pulled in!

The beautiful beach!

In the hot tub!
I am not reading conference talks or my scriptures!
I took 2 hours off today!!

So did Greg!

Looking down the beach one way!

Looking down the beach the other way!

Greg trying to convert his new buddy there!!

The view from our room -
The JW Marriott

I like the decor around town!

Goodbye stip of hotels in Cancun!

This didn't capture the pretty color of the water
as we were flying out of town!!

I had to take a quick selfie cause it's
my second time ever in 1st class!
Sweet - all the drinks I can handle!

Sunday - church as usual.  The bishop returned the counterfeit $500 peso bill I gave him for fast offerings - I guess if I had looked closely at it would have recognized that it didn't quite look like the real ones.  So much for being observant.  There was an investigator in church - invited to church and had never had a discussion.  Sacrament meeting was about keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  In gospel essentials the topic was Word of Wisdom.  This was the first he had heard about this but received it well - had lots of questions.  Priesthood meeting was President Benson's talk about flooding the world with the Book of Mormon - this was the first he had heard of the book.  As an example the teacher had the missionaries present their investigator with a book of Mormon, not realizing that he had never had a Book of Mormon and this was not a practice but the real thing.  He is nice and we look forward to seeing him next Sunday.  We had the Andersons and Griffins (a new couple from Thatcher Arizona) over for dinner and visited half the night.   Nice day of rest.

CANCUN! Poor Us!

Wednesday, May 13th

THOUGHT:  "PRAYER IS MAN'S GREATEST POWER!"

Today we got up early, got to the airport with the Smiths help (again) and flew to Cancun!  I thought I would never get here, but here I am!  It is quite hot and humid right now!  We rented a car and drove around for awhile.  After some lunch we hunted down a sister that Greg baptized.  We met her last May when our family came down here for a vacation - Hermana Rodriguez.   I can't believe I have been at the same church that we were at one year ago!  That year flew by fast!!
We finally met up the the Kirkhams at their beautiful home in their gated community!  It is big with a beautiful backyard and swimming pool!  We had a very nice visit, had some dinner and then Sister Kirkham took me on a bike ride around their community.  That took an hour and I am not sure I will be able to sit tomorrow!  It is quite warm here and humid!  I didn't remember that it was this hot last year at this time!  We are tired after traveling all day!
Cancun is a very nice place to visit!

Here is the same church we went to last May with the family!

Visiting with Sister Aurelia Rodriguez
Greg baptized her 43 years ago!
This is who he gave a blessing to last year
in Cancun!

Through the gate and down the street to the
Kirkhams mission home!  Look at these homes!
They are all HUGE and nice
Who wants to live here!

This is the next door neighbors home!

This is the backyard of the mission home!
Over to the left is a big banana tree
with lots of bananas growing on it!

Sister Kirkham took me on a ride ALL through
the gated community!  It took us over an hour
and we got home after dark!  The security was
following us all around.
Look at the homes behind us!

Thursday, May 14th  Happy Anniversary Jeff & Rachel!

We got up early again to get to the zone conference and breakfast.  The Kirkhams had breakfast catered by the little restaurant across the street from the church.  We had scrambled eggs, frioles, spicy meat, chicken legs, spanish rice and chilechilles.  The eggs, beans and rice were edible but the rest was toooooooo spicy!  We also had hot chocolate made with good chocolate and tons of cinnamon.  That was interesting!  Greg did his schpeel at the zone conference and we saw lots of the missionaries afterwards for different medical questions.
The Kirkhams took us to a restaurant for late lunch/early dinner.  It was like a Golden Coral or maybe a Sizzler - except with all kinds of Mexican food choices!!  The food was OK! and before we left the restaurant it had all gone straight through me!  UGH!  The Kirkhams son had come in to town for an interview to work for some company out of Cozumel.  It was fun to talk to him.  I am not sure I would want my son and his wife to move to Cozumel for work.  The Kirkhams will be here as mission president for only 1 more year.
After the meal, we went to visit a dentist.  I have been having some trouble with a tooth and he
x-rayed it.  My crown is coming off and I need to get it fixed!  He didn't have time to fix it since I was only staying until Saturday.  Darn - he was a very cute dentist!!!  He is engaged to the oral surgeon that works in his office!  That is convienence!  While we were waiting for the Kirkhams son to see the dentist, Sister Kirkham took us over to see the ocean and the very nice beach!  The sand here is so soft and white!  And the beautiful color of the water!  Nice place!  Poor Kirkhams that they have to live here and enjoy these sights every day for 3 years!!
We drove around looking at the sights of Cancun and got home after dark!  No bike ride tonight!  WHEW!  My bottom couldn't take it!

This is called a cinote
pronounced sin-o-tay
They are big holes in the ground that
have water in them and lots of them have tunnels
to other huge cinotes
People actually swim from one to the other
often with scuba gear on!
This one is in the front yard of a huge home
near the mission home!

A cool lighthouse in downtown Cancun

Went to dinner at a restaurant - a mix
between Golden Coral and Sizzlers
with the Kirkhams!

This awesome mall out by all the
big hotels in Cancun!
Love the stained glass dome ceiling!

Beach, breeze and perfect sand - Cancun!

It's hard to see the color of the water but it is so pretty!

Friday, May 15th
Today was another very nice day in Cancun!!  We got up early (again)!  I am tired of this!!
We drove for 2 1/2 hours to a town called Valladolid.  We had another zone meeting there.  The missionaries had made breakfast here - pancakes!  YES!  Lots better than the breakfast yesterday!
The pancakes were hard to cut and chew, but at least they weren't spicy!  HaHa!
The zone conference went well and all the missionaries are still so cute!  We met a cute missionary that said he was from Simi Valley Ca.  We asked him if he knew Dave Stevens (Greg's brother) and he was stunned when he answered yes - he is my Bishop!  The church family is so small!  This Elder's companion also lived in the same neighborhood we lived in - in Arizona.  Small world!
The Kirkhams took us to a hotel with a nice restaurant in the center of it!  I had chicken fajitas and the Kirkhams son had baby shark!  He thought it tasted good!  WHATEVER!!  I can't believe they eat some of the things they eat down here!  We met the doctor that takes care of the missionaries in this part of the vineyard.  He is very nice and so patient with the missionaries.  It is nice to have good doctors that help!
The Kirkhams took us to another pyramid that has only been discovered and uncovered for about 25 years. It is called Ek Balam It was very cool.  I took pics, but I have had complaints (from my darling children)  that all of my pyramid pics look the same!  Sad!  The pyramids don't look the same!
We had fun climbing on these with a skirt! Newsflash! -  If you ever are climbing on pyramids - don't wear a skirt!  You could kill yourself!
It took us another 21/2 hours to get back home.  We hurried and packed up and headed to the Marriott for our one night stay there!!!  The hotel is as nice as all the other Marriotts.  We got a little dinner at about 9 pm and walked around the grounds.  We got our suits on and sat in the hot tub for awhile.  The ocean looks and sounds so nice at night!  I wish we could stay for 3 weeks!

Market in Valladolid

Market in center of town

Market in center of town

The market in Valladolid
I think it's cool how all these people
get up early every day and set up
their little shops all over town!
Hard work!!

Peg loves to take pictures of hanging chickens
Teeeheeee!   Gross!

Valladolid

Beautiful jungle shrubbery
I like taking pics around town!

Two cute little old ladies sitting on the sidewalk
selling their stuff!

Interesting trees in Valladolid

The Hotel where we ate lunch

In the courtyard of the hotel.
This is the view from where I was sitting and eating!

This cute girl is hand making tortillas!

This is the Kirkhams son Aaron!
He ordered baby shark for lunch!
Yum!

El Balam!

Entrance to temple - see below.

More structures around the pyramid at Ek Balam

Entrance to their temple.  The doorway that looks like a crayon represents stairways descending from heaven.

Surrounded by dense jungle (currently in a drought and the jungle is much more brown that  usual.)

Many small structures surrounding the pyramid

Baptismal font?

The pyramid at Ek Balam - the thatched roofs are to protect intricate carvings from weather and sun.  This was buried by the inhabitants as they were about to be over run by a rival group and has been very well preserved.

In front of the main pyramid at Ek Balam

More Mayan carvings in stone

Above this doorway is an upside down figure indicating he is returning from the heavens

Pyramid in the jungle at Ek Balam

This pyramid was probably built by apostates but the figures are doing interesting things with their arms and hands

Ek Balam ruins

Handsome couple at Ek Balam

Handwoven hammocks being made right here by El Balam!