Monterrey Trip!

Monday, Nov. 2nd - Saturday Nov 7th    GOOD LUCK SPENCER!

Instead of a thought I want to wish Spencer a good time.  He left today to go back to his mission in Chili by himself.  I hope he is safe!

This has been one long week in Monterrey.  Monday we got packed up and I went to my Spanish class ( not really improving very fast with espanol)  We left home around 2:30 and headed to the airport.  The Smiths were gone on a trip so we called and reserved a taxi from a cute little LDS guy that lives around the Temple somewhere.  We felt so lucky to make it to the airport in that dang thing.  Every time he hit a bump I thought the taxi would fall apart and we would be sitting in the road like in a cartoon!  We did make it and had a short flight to Monterrey.  President and Sister Bird picked us up and took us to dinner.  The Birds had a sister missionary with them that they had just picked up from the airport before we got there.  We met 2 other sister missionaries at the restaurant - Los Generales - a Mexican Buffet.  I passed on the Menudo soup - cow intestine soup.  I could find a few things that looked edible so I didn't starve.  I think the Birds have been here too long when they think that buffet was a great place!  YUM!  We got the sisters all taken care of and got to the mission home.  We were tired and went straight to bed!

Our little taxi from the Temple to the airport!
We better get used to this since the Smiths leave
on Nov 30th!  Boohoo!

Taxi driver - a member and family history fanatic
Brother Medina

This old taxi barely made it!  It sounded like it
was falling apart while we were in it!
There is no way I can write about the sounds
and smells of this car!

Tuesday - we were up and going to a zone conference.  There was one in the morning, we ate sandwiches for lunch and another one in the afternoon.  We ended up back at the mission home finally after a very long day.  We walked over to a fancy mall that was close by and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.  That dinner was much better than last night!  It was fun to window shop at the mall - except all the Christmas stuff was out and we just celebrated Halloween!  Weird!

Beautiful mountains in Monterrey
that just shoot up from the ground.

The city is built all around the mountains.

They call this the "M" mountain

Wild turkeys we saw on our way up the mountain

We are at a lookout to see the city and
found a new friend.  He has a long nose
that he wiggles and it shows his itty, bitty
teeth.  He is very friendly

Lookout of the city

He wants to be friends with Greg

I love this old wiggly tree.

Us with the Birds

My photo abilities!

Sister Bird got some cheetos out
and he loved them!

Isn't he cute how he holds the cheetos

More cool mountains

Sorry this is blurry.  We were zooming down the mountain
and saw these huge metal bugs.  They are the
size of my volkswagon bug 

and another bug

Monterrey is a pretty city!

Greg's panoramic shot of the area!

Wednesday - groundhog day!  We got up and did another 2 zone conferences today.  President Bird took us on a drive up the mountain after the conference to see the city from high up.  It was very beautiful and we found a friend while looking at an overlook.  No one knows what kind of animal is is - but it is very friendly and cute.  I took pics.  We went home and picked up President and Sister McArthur who live next door.  They are over the Monterrey West Mission while the Birds are over the Monterrey East Mission.  Pres. Bird drove us to a little town outside of Monterrey called Santiago.  It still had decorations from The Dia de los Muerto - day of the dead!  This is a real interesting holiday they observe.  People put food out for the dead that supposedly come back to eat their favorite food on this day.  People go to cemeteries and eat all of the dead favorite food and leave some for them.  weird!  Many candles are involved, along with Katrinas - skeleton women, skulls and lots of other Mexican decorations!  We ate dinner at a cute hotel in Santiago. We all had tacos and enchiladas.  I hope we are still alive by morning! When we got back home to the Birds we packed up and walked next door to the McArthurs for the next 3 days.
By the way, Spencer made it to La Serena.  He is staying with a member after an overnight bus ride.

We are at a zone conference and some ward members
showed up to set up for a party.  This piñata is bigger than the kids
but I love these beautiful kids!

The Monterrey Temple

We picked up the McArthurs and drove to a small
town - Santiago for dinner.
This is the church there all decorated for
dia de los metros.

Yeah well I tried!
If I was taller I wouldn't be so fat!

Greg hanging with his buddies at the well!

Don't you just love the decorations!

Really?  Decorated skeletons all over the church steps

l-r The Birds, McArthurs and us

Someone has put big shrines up for their dead family member
They put pics, candles, decorations and food out

Huge skulls around.
If I stood next to it I would go up to the
bottom of his eye!

Another shrine

The original hearse for this town

With a decapitated girl driving!
Go figure!

I love this door of the church.
It looks like it is 1,000 years old!

The restaurant we ate at - so colorful

Good food and good times!

A tree of life with naked people on it!
I don't get it!

Fancy Katrina in the corner (Katrinas are the dressed up female skeletons with large hats for day of the dead.)

Church at night

Thursday - Friday Again we had 2 zone conferences each day.  We really enjoyed being with the McArthurs for this time.  They are such kind and thoughtful people.  Pres. McArthur has been Mayor in St. George for the past 20 years.  He has always been in a position of service to the people.  He has a million stories and another fun thing about him is that he has memorized over 40 poems that he can recite any time!  The McArthurs are new as of this July so they are learning about where to go and what to do.  He is the oldest of the 34 mission presidents at 67 years old.  They are very brave.

We were driving with the MeCarthurs and got lost!
This is what lost looks like.  The poor McArthurs
have only been here since July.  They will get it soon!

There are weird things like this stuck all over this country

I couldn't get a great pic, but it's amazing
how they have built homes all over the hills around here.

Saturday - Sunday Nov 7-8

We were up early, had a great homemade breakfast with the McArthurs and packed up and headed to the airport.  We landed around noon and the Smiths picked us up.  We found out that our friend Elder Zapata had a heart attack and had a stent placed.  He still is not feeling great and still in the hospital.
It took us over 1 1/2 hours to get home.   We did have a very fun afternoon with a bunch of the senior couples.  We left around 2:30 and went up to Interlomas to see the new James Bond movie - Spectre.
It was a good movie and fun to watch with everyone.  We stopped at Chili's afterwards for a light dinner.  Update on Spencer - he had a great time up in La Serena and took another overnight bus ride
back to Vina del Mar.  So far, he has not had to pay for a hotel so he is doing good.

Sunday Nov 8  I FINISHED MY BIG CHRISTMAS PROJECT!

Look at my 22 Christmas stockings for my family!
The one on the end is for Greg and I am finishing mine now!
But these are being sent home with Spencer when he comes next week!

 Church was great - we had dinner with the Rices.  We left stake choir practice early to go to the hospital to see Elder Zapata.  He had a stent placed last night and still had angina to they anted to put in a second stent.  We went up to the 6th floor where the cardiac ICU was and there were guards all over the place with their automatic weapons.  We were told that a bad criminal was there for surgery and they were guarding him.  When we left we noticed about 20 police cars and trucks with about 50 soldiers milling around the hospital.