Gone again to Puebla!

Monday, Aug 17th

THOUGHT:  "STRIVE FOR PROGRESS - NOT PERFECTION!"

We had quite the uneventful day today.  Greg had some catching up on paperwork and stuff to do after being gone all last week!  I piddled around and we finally got packed up and took off for Puebla around 3 pm.  The traffic was it's usual horrible self and it took us 3 hours to get to Puebla.( 1 1/2 hours to get out of the city)  We were going to Puebla to visit the new mission president and wife - Pres. & Sister Nelson.  They are from Oakland Ca.  He was a podiatrist.  Sister Nelson is a runner.  She reminds me a lot of my friend Janice Colton.  Sister Nelson is up every morning out running 10 miles.  She turned  60 a few months ago.  They had made us dinner and it was ready when we pulled up to their house - BBQ'd chicken and roasted potatoes with veggies - YUM!  Now thats real food!
We were able to do a lot of visiting and a little training for them before bed.  We went to bed early cause we have a big day tomorrow!

This is our friend Theresa.  Sister Sandberg and I are her
visiting teachers - kind of!
She has lots of mental issues.  She stays with a guy named Poncho
every day during the day.  A few weeks ago she found out that he
doesn't like her and wants to marry another lady. She has been heartbroken since.
 She comes to church and cries for all three hours.  One day she mentioned she had a doll she
loved but didn't have a blanket for her.  Sister Sandberg bought her
a baby blanket for her doll so she brought the doll to church wrapped in the
new baby blanket.  We haven't seen her this happy for months!  The dolls name is Emma.
Go figure!  We were sitting in RS and Sister Griffin said
"if she starts trying to nurse that doll I will freak out!"
HaHa!

Tuesday, Aug 18th

Yes, today ended up being a big day.  We were up and going early, yummy breakfast by Sister Nelson and we were off to the first zone conference which was only about 20 min away from the mission home.  The missionaries were as cute as ever.  We had a good question and answer session with the sisters like I do now when we do zone conferences.  All the sisters meet after the conference to ask me any questions.  I have answers to about half of their questions.  It seems like every zone gets on a particular topic - usually varicose veins, or hair loss.  This group was wrapped up in sore feet which is funny due to the fact that the new mission president is a podiatrist.  Sister Nelson is also a marathon runner so she knows about sore feet and knees, etc.  She was able to answer most of their questions and I was very happy with that since that is who these missionaries should be talking to anyway!  It worked out perfectly except for the moments when Sister Nelson came up with the idea of buying aerobic shoes to walk the streets in.  "You can get them in black or white!"  The look on all of the girls faces was priceless.   That will never happen.  Shoes are a pitiful description of their personalities  I say pitiful because their shoes are so inexpensive and worn out.  Some don't have the money to buy nice supportive shoes - that's understandable, but they take pride in their beat up shoes.
I love to look at the missionary's shoes when I hear they are headed home.  I love to see how abused, worn out, holy their shoes look.  It is a great description of how hard they worked on their mission.  I have had to tell missionaries not to throw their shoes away before they go home, but to take them home and put them on display to show how hard they have worked!  They all like that idea!
We had a zone conference at 9 am, noon, and 4 pm.  We kept moving and talking and answering questions all day.  It also was President Nelsons birthday.  After the zone conferences we asked if we could take him and Sister Nelson to dinner for his birthday.  It was 7:43 pm at this time and we were discussing where to go when one of the AP's that were riding home with us said - "President, you have a meeting with a Stake President at 8 pm.  UGH!  President was disappointed and so were we!   Also we were no where near our car and had to hurry to get him to his meeting.  He ended up being about 10 min late.  We dropped him off and I drove their van back to their house with Sister Nelson and Greg.  Poor Sister Nelson didn't know where to go so Greg figured out how to get back to her husband.  She followed us in her car and we guided her back to the Stake Center.  President was finished just as we arrived so timing was perfect.  Now it was 9:30 pm so we needed to head for home.  We never did get dinner but oh well!  It took us 3 hours to get to  Puebla and only 2 hours to get back home!  Traffic is so much better at 11:30 pm.   Good times!!!

Greg took a pic of this potty - notice the great plumbing and a valve on the side to turn to flush. 

The volcano Popocatepetl

Another view of Popo

Big skinny buildings sticking up from the outskirts of Puebla.

Lots of the cities have big formations like this
placed around town!

Wednesday, Aug. 19th

Today, Greg had some medical things he needed to get done!  I worked on my new afghan I am making.  We had a good time today touring a new hospital here in Mexico City.  It is huge and not even very old!  Well the structure is old, but they have updated the equipment so if I have a heart attack I think I could be saved at this hospital.  The director was very nice and tried to speak English for me.  He even took us to the pediatric part of the hospital.  Luckily I didn't see any sick kids.  That makes me very sad!  I didn't think we would be walking 2 miles today so I wore some shoes that  I am having a hard time breaking in!  Now I have a bleeding blister on each heel and one on my baby toe!  Dang!  We drove over to a mall close by and ate a salad at Chilis for lunch.  We got home, packed up and at 6 pm we left home again to drive to Cuernavaca for a big zone conference in the morning.  We tried to tell Pres. & Sister Avila that we would get up and drive down early, but they insisted we come tonight.  We got to Cuernavaca about 8 pm and stopped at another mall to get some dinner.  Dominos pizza sounded good so we ordered chicken Hawaiian.  It looked good, but the chef had poured hot sauce all over the top of the pizza.  There goes dinner!  Oh well, maybe I will lose 2 ounces on this trip!  It was yucky!  I am NOT into picante!  We just had to get a  sundae from McDonalds to put out the fire in our mouths and throats!  That worked well!  We got to the Avila's home and they weren't there yet.  It was now about 9:30.  They told Greg how to get in the kitchen door, so we got in and turned on all the lights and sat and waited for them to come home.  They got home around 10:30.  The Avila's have a handicapped son - with downs.  His name is Samuel, but they call him Sammy and he is 27 years. old.  He is so cute and lovable.  We kept trying to talk to the Avilas and he kept snuggling up to his mom.  She was so sweet with him.  I bet the missionaries love him.   We are dead tired!

Thursday, Aug 20th   HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!

Today is our daughter Rachel's birthday.  She turned 34 and I can't believe it!  Where did the time go?
I still have an older son whose birthday is next month!  I shouldn't have started having these darn kids when I was 12!  HAHA!   We had to get up and get going to the zone conference.  We walked in and all the missionaries headed straight for Sammy.  It was such a great sight!  This zone conference was big cause we did it on Web ex so all the missionaries could listen wherever they were in the mission.  There is one area that is an 18 hour bus ride away from the mission home.  Those poor guys down there.  Anyway, it was nice to get the whole mission covered in one conference.  As usual we had the sisters gather separately after for a question period.  I got the normal period, varicose veins, hair loss, white spots on tan skin, sore backs and knee questions!  My favorite question was from a little Latin Sister who asked how they could turn their skin lighter!  I said "I don't know.  Michael Jackson is the only one that knows!"  They all laughed.  I didn't think it was that funny but they did! Another sister stated that she heard cows milk will make your skin turn whiter.  Then I said, no that won't help and why would you ever want your skin whiter??  They have such beautiful tan skin.  They didn't ask any more skin questions after that!  I have learned something from this question period.  I have to set a time limit on the questions asked, because they deteriorate after the first 4 questions.  Then the questions start being things that there aren't any answers to.  We finally got done.  That was a long session.  The Avila's took us to a Sunburns for lunch - which wasn't great!  Even Greg couldn't finish his plate.  That's a first!  Bienvenido Mexico!!  They had to drive us back to their house so we could get our car and we headed for home!  We got home before 6:30 pm and were sitting in our "living room chairs" when the Griffins stopped by.  They invited us up to dinner because they were going out of town in the morning and needed to get rid of some food.  I sure like food the Americans make!!!
And so it was - another fun day in Paradise!!

Us with the Avilas and Sammy.
He is the sweetest guy ever!!

At lunch I said - smile Sammy I am taking your pic!
This is the look the missionaries taught him!

Greg lunch!  Yuck!
He couldn't even finish it!

Friday, Aug 21st

THOUGHT:  "IT IS BEST TO LEARN WISDOM BY THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHERS" 

                  Latin Proverb

Today has been a nice day.  We left our place around 11 am with the Hackings to drive over to the Temple Clinic.  Greg needed to see a couple of missionaries and I needed to give some vaccinations to the Sister missionaries.  The Temple grounds are all hustle and bustle with the open house.  Actually the Sandbergs and Munoz were driving over to meet us around 2 pm to do a Temple tour.  Well, I got the sisters all vaccinated and Greg saw the missionaries and we were waiting for the others to come.  So then we here they have been in a little car accident and it took them another 2 hours before they got there.  We called and bugged the Pococks until 3 pm when they had to go work in the Visitor's Center for the open house.  They left us and the Hackings sitting in their apartment still waiting.  The Pococks saw the Smiths who were just finishing their shift at the open house so they came up and got us and we spent another 1 1/2 hours visiting with them.  Finally the Sandbergs and Munoz arrived and we were able to go through the Temple.  It is beautiful as they all are.  I guess they gutted everything except the outside walls and reconfigured the whole place.  It is very nice and I am excited to be able to go to the Temple every week again.  I haven't done that for a year now!
We all went to dinner at P F Changs - including the Hackings, Sandbergs, Munoz, Smiths and us.
We did a lot of waiting but otherwise a very nice day today!  Good times!!
PS and we have been worried about our kids who took the boat to the lake today for a campout and we pray they are safe and sound!  I am so happy they are doing things together!

At the open house for the Mexico City Temple - I love this painting of the Savior with the Lamanite children

With the friends that went with us -
The Munoz, us, Sandbergs, Hackings

We went to P F Changs for dinner then to Dairy Queen for a treat!

This little girl came in to Dairy Queen and sat down next to us.
While her mom was ordering her treat she pulled out her
finger nail polish and started painting her nails.
Her mom made her put that away and then she
reacts to her big ice cream cone.
She reminds me of Evie and Hadley!

The Ciudadela

Sat Jan 22

THOUGHT:  "WHEN YOU HAVE A DREAM YOU'VE GOT TO GRAB IT
                         AND NEVER LET GO!"             Carol Burnett

I got up early - can't speak for Peg.  I had to see a missionary over at the Mex City West mission offices.  At 10 I went to get a hair cut -lately the guy has been cutting it too short.  Not sure what I am going to do.  Afterwards we met up with the Hackings - they wanted to go to the Ciudadela - that is a  tourist craft/souvenir place.  The Hackings needed a new guitar string but got suckered in to buying a lot of other things.  We then went to Costco - I had my $1.25 hotdog and drink -mom got the BBQ sandwich.  After shopping we came home and actually got our laundry done without fighting others.  We were full so we only had toast for dinner - maybe I really can lose some weight.  Then we had movie night at the Tobler's - "Woman in Gold."  Nice movie.

I finally got my 9 month (halfway) flowers from the 10th
and they are also counted for today - the 22nd
Happy Anniversary to me!

Sun Jan 23

THOUGHT:  "WE ARE THE LORD'S HANDS HERE UPON THE EARTH, WITH THE
                        MANDATE TO SERVE AND TO LIFT HIS CHILDREN.  HE IS
                         DEPENDENT UPON EACH OF US"                  Pres. Monson

Peg has had some bursitis in her shoulder so she didn't sleep well last night - missed church to sleep.  We have a special Stake Conference next Sunday at a different time and thought that we were going to get to see Elder Christoffersen but he will be at another stake conference.  We do get to be in a meeting with Elder Christoffersen Saturday morning with the West mission - that will be great.  We missed Elder Bednar when he was here in May so it will be nice to see an apostle.  We had a nice lunch with the Anderson's who were in Tuxtla-Gutierrez all week - it is hot down there.  Tonight we have stake choir practice - I have to sing tenor - no one else except for 4 members who can't find the note even when I am singing it in their ears.  Good luck next Sunday.  This week we are off to Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas/Fresnillo.  Good times.

I made Krispy Kreme donuts today!
Greg says they are close but not quite the same!
Close is good enough!!

Home from our longest trip yet.

Sat Aug 15, 2015  HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR - TOMORROW!

THOUGHT:  "SUCCESS IS NO ACCIDENT.  IT IS HARD WORK, PERSEVERANCE, LEARNING, STUDYING, SACRIFICE AND MOST OF ALL - LOVE OF WHAT YOU ARE 
DOING."         Pele

We had a nice complementary breakfast at the Holiday Inn in Orizaba and hit the road back to Veracruz.  There was road construction on the toll way and it slowed us down.  We got to their home in Veracruz, their kids changed and were dropped off at a Primary party.  We made it to the chapel where the Zone Conference was to be held about 20 minutes late.  I did my program while the president went to Sam's Club to get food to feed his crew (Missionaries sure can pound it down.)  I saw a few elders for various problems - none serious and caught part of his presentation.  He was an institute teacher in Tijuana before his mission call.  He spent his time trying to teach the missionaries how to ask questions that bring the spirit and really get the investigators thinking about the gospel topic they are discussing.  We finished about 2:30 and picked up his wife and kids at their home which was near a nice mall with Applebee's, TGIF, etc but we ended back at Farolitos for Mexican fare - I was fine with that but you already know what Peg thought.  In our five days of travel we had some very interesting discussions.  Education in Mexico is minimalist - just enough to meet standards.  Teachers don't care if someone misses - they get paid either way.  No effort is made for extracurricular activities - no sports in school, no music programs, nothing extra.  There are no sports leagues for kids to participate in.  With all of the resources that are in Mexico they could have a very high living standard with a very educated populace if not for rampant government corruption.  It makes him very sad.  Mexico has become a place where people take out loans to buy Oakley sun glasses.  Everyone has a smart phone but not enough money to feed their kids - really sad.  The self-sufficiency programs here are really starting to get traction - for the most part most people here are very hard workers, very practical.  Our flight was 45 minutes late - not sure why but when we got to Mexico City there were no gates to land at and we landed and taxied to an area very far from the terminal.  We got on a bus that took us right along the tarmac with planes landing and taking off right next to us.  It took our luggage 45 minutes to make it to our terminal - the Popocks were waiting for us - so sorry.  To make matters worse, when we finally got home at 10:15 we checked the laundry room and no one was there.  It took us about 15 minutes to get our laundry for the week together and down to the laundry room and in that time the Montoyas had arrived and had all the washers going.  BUMMER.  The dryers turn off when they get too hot which is about 30 to 45 minutes after turned on if they are completely cold or 10 to 15 minutes if someone just used them.  We gave up on laundry Saturday night and I got up early Sunday to do it - hope I am not struck down.

This is the front of the hotel - Holiday Inn Express
This old wall goes all the way around the hotel.

A pic of the old wall from our hotel room
It is made out or stones and rocks - very cool wall!

We found this cat back at the mission home.
He is very skinny and was complaining about something!

On the way to the restaurant we saw this guy fixing
a taco al  pastor chunk of meat.
YUM!

The kids had funny faces to show off!

Pico de Orizaba from the airplane.
It looked like we could reach out and touch the top

Another view of the mountain surrounded by clouds

The clouds were so incredible on the flight.
They were hugh puffs that could swallow this airplane

Another chunk of clouds.

Flying into Mexico City.
You can see the city below the clouds
These clouds have lightening and rain in them.

I had to take a pic of this guy in his bright orange
pants and navy jacket.  He thinks he is pretty cool.

We had to wait for about an hour for our luggage to show up
The guy in the white shirt with the backpack was very
entertaining.  He was either very nervous or excited to be here.
I bet he walked two miles around the luggage place while
waiting for his suitcase.  

There is the guy in the white shirt clear down there by the
stairs still pacing around.  He was a wreck by the time
his suitcase got here.
It's sad how I have learned to spend my time while
waiting, waiting and more waiting.
I love to watch people!

Sunday Aug 16, 2015

We got a new Bishop today but he was barely approved by the first presidency Friday morning and with the temple open house and dedication they really needed to call someone fast so he was called but hasn't had time to call his counselors yet.  The Stake president spoke about how he wished he could have helped out the spouses of his kids and gave an example of a general authority who was visiting a mission and was so impressed with the assistant to the president that he gave him his number and told him to call him when he got home and come and see him.  That missionary is now his son-in-law.  For most parents that doesn't work out and he gave several examples including that of his daughters how it doesn't work out.  It seems to me that the more we protested about who our kids were dating the more they wanted to date that person.  Maybe we should have used reverse psychology.  We had stake choir practice (singing at stake con end of Aug) and I often wonder if singing off key is in Lamanite blood.  Just a speculation.

Extra long trip to Veracruz!

Tuesday Aug 11- Saturday Aug. 15       Trip to Veracruz!

THOUGHT:  "LIFE IS SO MUCH BRIGHTER WHEN WE FOCUS ON WHAT
                       TRULY MATTERS......"

Yep 4:30 is way, way, way too early to be getting up!  The moon was barely up!  We left home and drove to the Temple in record breaking time - 20 min.  I like driving at this hour for sure!!  Poor Smiths got up and drove us to the airport at 5:30.  I hope they went home and went back to bed!  We got to the airport and faced a bustling place!  Our flight left at 6:55 to Veracruz.  I am not sure what is worse - getting up so early to get to the airport in plenty of time or to just get in the car at a decent time of day and drive there!  I guess flying worked out OK!  I have needed a nap all day now!
Pres. and Sister Cordova met us at the airport.  They are young and very nice!  They have two darling kids - Pamela -11 anos, Jonathan - 10 anos.  They took us to breakfast and I had an omelet (normal food!)  I'm not sure what they ate😜.  After breakfast we headed over to the church that is next to the temple for a zone conference.  Greg did his schpeel and I worked on my new project - another afghan.  After the zone conference the Cordova's took us to lunch at Olive Garden that is right on the edge of the ocean.  We sat outside and it was delightful, even though I don't think Veracruz beaches are that awesome, it is always nice to sit by the water and listen to the waves and the people playing in the water.  Good lunch and good times!
We picked up the kids and packed up all the stuff we need to take to the other zones.  We threw all the stuff including the kids in the back of the van and off we went.  We drove for about 3 hours to a little town called San Andres Tuxla.  The drive was so beautiful.  Everything is huge and very green.  There are trees and big bushes everywhere, with big beautiful mountains and wide rivers.  It's hard to remember we are in Mexico at times like this, until a house passes by.  Then we remember where we are!  Ha! We arrived around 7 pm and got our room in this fairly clean Mexican hotel.  It was quaint little Mexican hotel in the middle of town.  The street was busy with people walking this way and that.  We ate a late light dinner and watched the people.

The clouds were so cool while flying into Veracruz.
It looks like Aliens are shining down their lights
(maybe they are!)

I don't know why aliens would come to Mexico!

But maybe???

A cute group of missionaries at our first zone conference.

We went to Olive Garden on the beach for lunch after
the conference.  Greg and Sister Cordova

It was fun (made me homesick) to watch
this seed pull this big blowup thing around
with all the kids on it!

me with Pres. & Sister Cordova

At the edge of the restaurant.

There is a clear plastic wall that this bird sat on
to watch us eat our lunch.
See the HUGE boats in the background
This is a shipping town.

My favorite shot - this little dingy
pulling a double water weenie around
advertising the ride.
I didn't get a pic but this guy found
a bunch of kids that he was pulling around.
We laughed out loud thinking of what
our kids do while being pulled around on our water weenie.
Not so peaceful or calm.

I was told this chili wasn't hot and was dared to eat it.
I was lied to - it was hot and I only took a little nibble.

Looking down the beach from the restaurant

After lunch we drove to San Andres Tuxtla
I took some shots along the way.
This is someones house.  I guess they like rain coming in.

This is blurry - sorry, but I had to catch this guy
has a whole store set up here along the side of the
road where people fly by in their cars.
I don't know if anyone ever stops
to buy his stuff.

Pretty rainbow over the ocean and this old structure

Another shot of the rainbow

Pics of things as we drove down the highway.
This is a restaurant

Houses

This is a ton by this large river
It looks like a tourist town
but it's not.

This mountain is suppose to be where the final
battle in the Book of Mormon took place.

I was sitting in the coffee shop of the hotel doing what I do best -
watching people.  I love these nuns who walked up to this
side of the road drink shop, ordered drinks in big tall glasses
and then stood there and drank it all gone!  The other people
had to wait while these two took their sweet time!  Love it!

This is one of my all time favorite shots
this sweet little old lady carrying a bag of some sort
trying to hurry across the street!

Our hotel room - little, but efficient and clean

Our hotel in San Andres Tuxtla

Our view out of our window.
There is no city planning in Mexico so nice things
are built next to junky things.  

Wednesday - We were up not quite as early to eat and get to our zone conference here in   San Andres.  I love talking with the Elders and sisters.  Greg did his schpeel, and the President did his hour long training along with another hour of the zone leaders doing training.  This all equals a long day!   After we finished the Cordova's took us to lunch at a place not on the street, but darn close.  This is the first time I have prayed during the entire lunch that I won't get sick!  I was not sure what I was eating.  I could only get a few bites down along with the grape drink that I could only get a few swallows down before I was done!   UGH!  After the fun lunch we went on a drive out to see some cascading water falls.  When we got to the sight it was pouring rain and we had to wait at least an hour for it to stop enough for us to walk down the path to the waterfalls!  The rain storm was so refreshing and the waterfalls were beautiful.  Perfect afternoon!  Back to our little hotel for a rest and another late comida.  We are eating less and less as the days go on!  Good for us!  PRAYERS MUST HAVE WORKED - AT LEAST FOR NOW!  NOT SICK YET!  YAY!

A big cathedral in a small town

A big cross up on the hill.
It reminded me of the cross we went to the top in
while in Chile picking up Spencer from his mission.

All the LDS churches are kept so nice-
at least on the outside.
This one was actually clean on the inside as well.

This is the scene in this city.  Tons of greenery with houses
tucked down in!

Oh my - this is the restaurant where I had to pray extra
hard on my food so I didn't get sick.
Sister Cordova, Pamela and Jonathan
See the red tarp for the ceiling of this place?
The sun was shining through it and made for weird color pics.

We sat next to the "kitchen"
We watched them make the tortillas and cook meat!

The menu!
I knew I was in trouble when I couldn't recognize anything on the menu!

I was told this was the best thing to order - Mexican Pizza
I wasn't told it was huge or that it didn't taste very good.
I tried to give it all away to the kids.
They ate some of it and I ate 2 bites and left the rest-
while still praying.

This town has lots of hills, but is clean

We are sitting in an open restaurant waiting for the
pouring rain to stop so we can go see the waterfalls.
It rained for about an hour.

This hanging bridge was wobbly to walk across
while other people were on it 

Beautiful waterfalls!
I guess the water level is down here cause
usually the water covers all the way across where it
is green on the other side.

The river below with the mist!

My adopted Mexican grandchildren.
They make me miss my own!

By the waterfall!
The Latins are so teeny!

Thursday - we were up early 6:30 to get going to the next zone conference.  We got on the road and drove for about 3 more hours.  I loved this drive.  I think it is my favorite so far.  The scenery is beautiful and I especially loved watching the people getting up - sweeping their front porches, feeding the chickens in the front yard, chasing kids around the yard already, people waiting for a bus to get to work, and the mist from the morning sitting on the tops of their houses!  There were people already sitting in their chairs at their work places, other preparing food at their little food stands.  It seemed everyone was up and going before 7!.  Good for them!  I missed a bunch of great pics as we were sailing down the road.  The pic I am most sad about missing is of the little blue house sitting off the road in the middle of nowhere with the laundry blowing in the wind in the back yard and the horse - saddled up and waiting for a rider in the front yard - tied to a tree.  It's hard to imagine that a family lives in this little house out in the middle of nowhere!!!  I missed other pics too - two little girls playing off to the side of the road, a mom holding her sleeping baby, a guy pushing his cart full of his tools off to work somewhere, a guy sitting in his chair in his garage waiting for who know what!   After a couple of hours we made it to Tuxetapec for the next zone conference.  This was great with only Elders in this town.  I guess it is not safe enough for sisters and too many huge mosquitoes. The Elders were as sweet as always.  We spent most of the day with them doing training and stuff.  Then another fun experience - off to another "restaurant" for another lunch!  Praying again with every mouthful!  We had some kind of soup that Greg said was good - OF COURSE!  I did not agree!  We also ate arrachera (sliced up ?steak?) meat with tortillas and guacamole.  I ate some of that and had a Coka light for the first time in a week!  PRAYERS ARE WORKING STILL - NOT SICK YET!
President Cordova kept watching me eat and finally asked me what my favorite food was!  I wanted to say ANTHING THAT YOU HAVEN'T RECOMMENDED SO FAR!  Somehow I got out of answering but he always watches me eat.  I think he gets offended that I don't finish my yummy food!
Oh well!!! My philosophy is "better to offend that throw up!"  We spent the rest of the afternoon driving to the next town which was Tierra Blanca.  I am pretty sure it qualifies as out in the middle of nowhere!  I hope no one is looking for us today or tonight because they will NOT find us!  We don't even know where we are!  The hotel is fancy here in this small town.  It even has a swimming pool.  The kids got in the pool, but we were too tired after sitting in a car for 3 days so far! HOW IS IT THAT YOU GET TIRED FROM SITTING AROUND FOR DAYS AT A TIME?????    You would think you would have tons of extra energy, but NO!   The kids - Pamela and Jonathan are perfect children.  They are sweet, quiet and helpful.  I keep telling them I want to take them home to show them off to my grandchildren.  They all would be good friends.  I guess I will have to take Abi, Kaylee, Jack and Taylor to Tijuana where the Cordovas  are from in 2 years when they go back home from their mission!

In the hallway of our hotel there are park benches
sitting in these alcoves.  Can't figure out why!

More houses tucked in-between all the trees and bushes

This is called a living fence.  It does have barbed wire
in-between the trees.

This guy is off to work on his horse!

People waking up and carrying stuff off to work.

A view over another large river.

This is what a zone conference looks like.
This zone only has Elders cause it is not
safe enough to have sisters!
Greg up there giving his schpeel!

We found this bitty hospital to help with the sick missionaries
in this town.  I hope they don't get sicker here!!!!

We caught an Elder out walking the street!
Cute guy!

On our way to lunch we saw this protest on the other side of the bridge.
The cops down't like you taking their pics but they were everywhere.

It started to rain while we were eating lunch and there were
4 kids that kept running back and forth outside in the rain -
sliding and splashing!  Having a great time.

We liked this sink cause it is in-between
the boys and girls bathroom.
It is very teeny space.  Pamela and I
got our hands all soaped up and then
we found out there was no water. UGH!
Finally a waitress brought a pitcher of water
and rinsed off our hands.

Jonathan wanted his pic taken too!

Trying to look like the mask!

The hotel we stayed in on Thursday night

The view from our room.  A nice pool and yard for the hotel -
then yucky buildings around this.  We are in Tierra Blanca
which is out in the middle of nowhere.  It's a good thing there wasn't
an emergency today cause we would not have been able to help!

Looking back on our room in the corner.

Friday - up early again and off in the van to the next town and zone conference.  We finally made it to Orizaba for this zone conference.  We had to stop at Sam's Club to restock on refreshments for the conference.  The poor missionaries always act like they have not eaten in a month!  I think they inhale the food that they get from zone conference!!   The zone conference was good - like the last 3 have been.  Greg says President Cordova is an excellent teacher.  I get some of what he is saying, but not a lot!  He was an Institute teacher before his mission call.   The sisters were great to talk to as well and they didn't even ask me crazy questions like I get sometimes.  I need to write down some of the questions I get!  I will do that in the future!

We were driving along and all of a sudden out popped
this huge mountain - Pico de Orizaba.  This is the
tallest mountain in Mexico.

A pretty park in the town of Orizaba

This church built so it looks like it is at the base of the mountain
The Light of the World Church!

Doing construction on the highway.
People never miss an opportunity to see stuff
This guy has set up a lean-to to sell his wares.

Another guy with his umbrella.
Want some coffee along the way???

It was hard to see - but there is a huge canyon on the other side of this fence.

Every town needs a fancy cathedral.