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.
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| This is the front of the hotel - Holiday Inn Express This old wall goes all the way around the hotel. |
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| A pic of the old wall from our hotel room It is made out or stones and rocks - very cool wall! |
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| We found this cat back at the mission home. He is very skinny and was complaining about something! |
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| On the way to the restaurant we saw this guy fixing a taco al pastor chunk of meat. YUM! |
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| The kids had funny faces to show off! |
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| Pico de Orizaba from the airplane. It looked like we could reach out and touch the top |
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| Another view of the mountain surrounded by clouds |
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| The clouds were so incredible on the flight. They were hugh puffs that could swallow this airplane |
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| Another chunk of clouds. |
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| Flying into Mexico City. You can see the city below the clouds These clouds have lightening and rain in them. |
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| I had to take a pic of this guy in his bright orange pants and navy jacket. He thinks he is pretty cool. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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