the weekend

Saturday, June 27th

THOUGHT:  Learn to hold loosely all that is not eternal.
                                                                     A. Maude Royden  

                        It was kind of a lazy day - I took Brother Griffin over to ABC hospital to get the reading on the CT scan of his wife.  We then went to the yarn store with the Andersons which is near Walmart so a fun shopping trip.  The Sandburgs wanted to take us out to dinner for dropping them off and picking them up from the airport when they went home for a family reunion.  We chose The Olive Garden and had a wonderful evening.

Sunday June 28 - 
Peg woke up stiff-necked.  She could't quite make it to church so she listened to 4 sessions of conference in our apartment.  The Griffins came to dinner.  They are the media couple.  Sister Griffin mentioned that they are encouraging returned missionaries to connect with their converts - it seems to benefit both.  I decided that I could do that - I have made a half-hearted effort to find people I knew and baptized on my mission 43 years ago.  Initial efforts were difficult - 43 years is a long time for people to stay in the same house.  I found a man I baptized who is now a bishop by contacting a stake president.  That hasn't worked too well in other locations so I took to Facebook like a Facebook stalker.  I think I have found 2 families and I am now just waiting for them to respond to Facebook messages and friend requests.  With 25 million people in Mexico City it is not easy to track someone down.  The great part of this is that people here have two last names - first the last name of their father and second the last name of their mother which tends to tie people together.  One family I found had the mom listed on a genealogy site - hopefully they are still active.  The other person I think I have found had a BYU management logo on his Facebook website - maybe I will get lucky and find some.  I am sure many have gone inactive but I still search.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US - 38 YEARS AND COUNTING!!

Monday, June 22  Happy Anniversary!

Well 38 years ago today we got married in the Salt Lake Temple by Neil A. Maxwell!
We started out the day with a late (way too late for Greg) breakfast at IHOP!  Greg had strawberry pancakes, eggs and bacon and I had my usual multi grain pancakes and a couple of eggs with some ham.  What a way to start off your anniversary in Mexico right???  We left the restaurant and drove to a hospital to visit with an Elder that got hit by a car last week up in the north!  He has a fractured pelvis and broken lower leg with tendon damage.  What a mess -the poor guy!  There is a beautiful view of the city from the hospital so we took some anniversary pics I will post!  We spent the rest of the afternoon at our place with Greg doing his missionary thing!  FHE was good.  The Mata's showed pics and told us all about the history of Puebla where they are from.  They are the church history people here.  They also travel all over the country to get stories and history stuff about the church in Mexico!!!  Felix Aniversario!!!

IHOP!

HAHA! THE NEXT PICS ARE FABULOUS!!!

Here we are trying to take a selfie with a window behind us
with a nice view of the city!
It was a very sunny day!
Enjoy our progress!!!

Well this one is as good as it gets!

And here is the city behind us!
WHEW!

I am enjoying my 2 doz. creamy yellow anniversary roses!

Tuesday, June 23

So 38 years ago today we arrived in this city for our honeymoon! (and yes I am still married to the crazy person)  We spent 5 days here in Mexico City, then rented a car and drove to Taxco for lunch and then on to Acapolco for about 36 hours before we flew home!  That trip was completely backwards if you ask me!  We needed to spend 5 days in Acapolco and 2  hours in Mexico City!
Oh well that's a lot of water under that bridge!  But the next time he wants to take me on a honeymoon we are NOT going south at all!!!
Greg had such a slow call morning that he was very bored so we walked over to Palmas (street) and found a little place for lunch!  We caught the bus and ended up at the Castle here in the City.  Our friends the Newmans and Rysers are on missions in Germany and every week they put up pics of all of these beautiful castles!! - like the one Disney used for a model for Cinderellas castle!  So I took all kinds of pics of our castle!  It doesn't even begin to compare, but it's all we have!  This little trip took us about 4 hours so we had a nice afternoon, except for the fact that Greg didn't get one call this morning and about 10 calls while we were trying to look at the castle!  That's how it works here! So I walked around and saw the castle by myself while he talked on the phone somewhere off to the side where he could get service!
Our friend Sister Griffin that had the kidney stone last week has not felt good since that surgery so her husband took her back to the hospital for a check up and now they think she has heart failure!  Poor thing - I'm not sure this mission agrees with her! We went to visit her this evening

Castle in Chapultepec Park!

Maximilian's carriage

View of Chapultepec park from up in the castle

another view

Another view of downtown

A huge fountain of a cricket!

Bedroom of the princess

This view is on the second level of the castle where
beautiful gardens are all around

Beautiful stain glass windows of princesses!

More of the gardens

Greg wanted his pic taken by the big hair dudes!

This is a beautiful dress from the 1940's
with stones and pearls sown into it

A baby gown

The beginnings of Mexico - early flag and cool dishes

Outside one of the castle doors.
That is Greg walking out while on the phone!

One last skyline view

We were waiting for the trolley to ride down to the street
These little girls were waiting with us!
The kids here in Mexico are all so dang cute!

Wednesday, June 24th  Good luck on your mission Elder Nathaniel Porter!

I was going to take a pic today of my day, but I just couldn't face it!  It was another going to the dentist day for me!  I finally got my crown (sombrero) for my dumb tooth!  I hope I never see that dentist again - although he was very nice and did a great job!  I just don't like my head being drilled in to!   After that fun we picked up the Andersons and took them to Costco.  We took a side trip across the street to the new Italian place Greg loves to have dinner.  We shopped at Costco and spent a quiet evening home!

Thursday, June 25th   Congratulations to Eric & Chloe Stevens on your wedding today!

We decided to take the Sandbergs and go to the MTC today.  They had some people they wanted to meet with and talk to up there and we were excited to see our neighbor Elder Porter that arrived there yesterday.  We got there just in time for lunch and found Elder Porter with the rest of the newbies.  They all had a glazed look in their eyes!  It was fun to see him and get a pic for his cute mom!
The Andersons had us over for a movie night. We have been watching the Bourne movies - #3 tonight - only one more to go!  Good times

Surprise - we found our next door neighbor, Nathaniel Porter at the MTC in Mexico City

enjoying the food at the MTC

With his companion Elder Blatter

The whole district - MTC in the background

Friday, June 26th

We were up and out to the Temple clinic for the day.  Greg has asked the new doctor at the MTC to come and take a day at the clinic.  We know this guy - Elder Harston that we bought our house from 21 years ago.  So Elder and Sister Harston and Elder and Sister Gill came to the temple clinic for an orientation today.  I showed the sisters around the temple grounds and the little stores there.  The visitor's center is very awesome!  We all loved walking around that for a few minutes while the husbands were with Greg.  It will be nice to have more coverage at the Temple clinic since one of the doctors that worked there 2 days a week has moved away.  We met the Andersons downtown by the Latin-American tower to go to lunch at the very first Sanborns.  We walked around for a little while, but there were tons of people downtown.  There is some kind of holiday today and there are people all over the place - like at Christmas time.  It took us an hour to get home and we ended up watching the last Bourne movie tonight!

Latin American tower - used to be the biggest building in Mexico City

Belles Artes behind us - where they have the Folk logic dances

I think there are trees growing out of these church towers

West Coast Mission Trip! & HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Wednesday, June 17th

THOUGHT:  "GO FORWARD WITH NEW ZEAL AND DETERMINATION, AND THROUGH YOUR EXAMPLE SHINE THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL IN THIS TROUBLED WORLD."
                                                                                                                                 L. Tom Perry

We got up early and caught  a flight to Mazatlan.  It was very warm and dry there!  President & Sister Velez picked us up and we were on our way to a fun weekend! We drove straight to the church where we had a zone conference.  Greg gave  his schpeel to everyone.  After that the Elders went into another room and the Sisters went into another room!  They were able to ask me medical questions.  This is just what happened in Merida because Sister Velez and Sister Garcia are real sisters and Sister Garcia told Sister Velez about what we did in Merida so she had to do it in this mission!  It turned out great and I was able to answer a lot of questions.  All the missionaries love to ask questions about where your from, how long have you been on the mission, where do you live, how many kids do you have, how long have you been married and so on!!!  Anywho I had to send a few to see Dr. Stevens this afternoon.  He gets to give them prescriptions and better health advice!!  The Velez' took us to their favorite place in Mazatlan for lunch!  My meal wasn't terrific, but that's the story all the time! We drove along the beach front for a while and took some pics, then headed off the Culiacan.  It was about a 3 hours drive.  They make that drive lots of times.  Ugh!  Not very pretty scenery. We made it to their beautiful house, unpacked out stuff then they took us out for frozen yogurt.  We sat outside at the place and enjoyed the warm evening.  Culiacan is the bread basket of Mexico - where all the corn is grown.  They get 2 crops a season and there are fields of corn everywhere.

The walk along the ocean in Mazatlan

Cool  out in the ocean

The Mazatlan beach!

This is how flat and dry the drive was to Culiacan.

Thursday, June 18th
We got up early, ate a yummy breakfast she fixed. Except a lot of the mission moms here make this green drink for the morning.  It is a definite diarrhea builder!  UGH!  So, it was a long day!!
We had another zone conference with all the missionaries in Culiacan.  It was the same routine with the meeting and we spent most of the afternoon talking to the missionaries.  We had a big lunch at Applebees , got to take a little nap back at the mission home.  Greg interviewed a doctor while Sister Velez and I worked on "stuff" and then ended up having quesadillas late tonight!  They were good quesadillas too!!

We stayed at the mission home.
This is the view out of our bedroom window!
Cool huge house up there!

This is looking out the window the other way - down the street!
There is money in Mexico!

A big river running through the middle of Culiacan

The guy pushing his broom cart down the street -
take you pic of which broom or mop you like!!

Friday, June 19th
Oohh!  We got up at 4:30am to catch a plane.  I don't like getting up this early!  I have been tired all day and my brain hasn't worked all day either!   It was a 45 min flight across the  water to La Paz.  It was hot in Culiacan, but nice and cool in La Paz.  It is a pretty little town, but it is not a tourist town. It was very nice on the ocean front!  Another zone conference - groundhog day!  After all the meetings we got back in the rental car and drove for another 2 1/2 hours to Cabo.  We stopped at a little town called Todo Santas where the real Hotel California is from the song.  It really is in the middle of nowhere.  We went to a beach there that is beautiful and absolutely no one is around!  There is a  house for sale right on the beach.  Greg was tempted, but I said NO!
We drove on to Cabo and checked in to our hotel way off the beach and away from all the fancy big hotels there!  We did go walking around late this evening and watched all the hub bub.  It was very sad to see all the drunk young people roaming around!  They all seem so lost!  We ate tacos al pastor in a little sidewalk place which made me nervous so we'll see if we get sick!!
Back to the hotel - we are all very tired!

Flying over lots of farmland!
You need lots to feed 25,000,000 people!

The coastline of La Paz

Nice sights of the ocean along the drive into La Paz

We stopped at this outside cafe for breakfast!

This is hard to see because it is so bright behind them
but this is how I spend most of my time!
All three of them on the phone!
Lonely breakfast for me!!!

Greg - happy as ever!!

This is how the view changes driving from La Paz to Cabo

Every street in this city is dug up!
This little business is still going strong out
in the piles of dirt in Todos Santos.

Pic with Sister Velez inside the Hotel California!

Add caption

President and Sister Velez

I love this light fixture hanging in the hotel California

The famous hotel California

The beach out in the middle of nowhere with no one on it!

Greg picked this lot with the old sailboat on it for his retirement spot!
I hope he has a great  life here!

The view as we drive over the hill into Cabo San Lucas

On the boardwalk in Cabo

The little zone conference in Cabo

Nice church in Cabo

Saturday, June 20
We got up early at our Fairfield Inn in Cabo San Lucas and drove for 30 minutes to the "other" cabo - San Jose del Cabo, to a chapel there to do our presentation.  We were told that San Jose is more sedate than San Lucas and that young people go to San Lucas to party and older, retired people come to San Jose.  It was a nicer city, there was a surfing beach just before we entered the town.  There was a young couple - both doctors who came to the meeting.  Afterwards I interviewed them to see if they would be willing to see missionaries.  He is an internist and she is an anesthesiologist.  He has only been a member for a month - she has been a member for awhile.  They were great and we are fortunate to have them taking care of the missionaries in San Jose del Cabo.  After seeing the sick missionaries we were taken to the airport and our "beach tour" ended.  We got home and were fed by the Griffins - Sister Griffin is feeling a little better but still sick from her kidney stone.  The missionary that was hit by a car in the Saltillo mission arrived at the hospital in Mexico City and is now cared for by a very good orthopedic doctor here in Mexico.  

We stopped at a view point on our way to the airport
(actually in the middle of the road - but who cares
we are in Mexico!)
This pic is taken back towards Cabo San Lucas

There are a lot of surfers out there along with lots of rocks!

More surfers and rocks!

Looking towards San Jose de Cabo
We hate to leave this mission conference!
Fun Fun, Fun!
Sometimes this mission is so tough!!!

Sunday, June 21  HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

THOUGHT:  "A FATHER'S CALLING IS ETERNAL, AND ITS IMPORTANCE TRANSCENDS TIME.  IT IS A CALLING FOR BOTH TIME AND ETERNITY!"       Ezra Taft Benson

We fasted today - the son-in-law of President Whitehead had a massive heart attack 2 days before and was being kept alive in a coma - she flew back with her daughter who had been visiting her for her 60th birthday.  Very sad - he later died.  Sacrament meeting was very inspirational.  Elder Salinas, an area 70 who is in our ward spoke about his experience after general conference this year.  Generally he said there are multiple themes presented and he takes volumes of notes.  This time he states that everything was focused on keeping the Sabbath holy.  He said that Elder Bednar and Elder Christofferson had a slight twist on t
he theme that really got him to thinking.  They said that the reason members are going inactive is that families are not using the time they have on Sundays to instruct their children in the gospel and share testimonies.  Too much time is spent watching TV and doing things that do not involve the family.  There is plenty of time each Sunday to have family instruction like FHE, talk about and work on Genealogy, practical instruction on tithing and fast offerings, read and study the scriptures and talks by general authorities and bear testimony.  I hope my kids read this and use their Sunday time to do some of these things.  It was an interesting take on keeping the Sabbath day holy.  Interesting that Sabbath is now translated into Day of Rest in Spanish since the word for Saturday is Sabado which means Sabbath - even newer versions of the Bible use Día de Reposo, Day of Rest for Sabbath in the scriptures to help avoid confusion.  I received calls from all of my kids - thanks so much - you don't know what it means to be so far away and hear from 
each of you.  
Happy Fathers Day!!!

Here is the picture of one awesome dad!
He is 100% in all of his callings-
To his family, his church
and his Heavenly Father!
He loves spreading the light of the gospel to all
of the people here in Mexico!
He is a great example of the believers!!!
I hope you know how much we all love you!
Have a great day/year!