THOUGHT: "PEACE IS THE RESULT OF RETRAINING YOUR MIND TO PROCESS
LIFE AS IT IS, RATHER THAN AS YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE"
Dr. Wayne Dyer
Monday, Nov 30th
Well, today finally came and went. I have not been looking forward to this day for a long time. Today we took the Smiths to the airport to go home! They are the dearest, sweetest and kindest people I have ever met. They have been such a good example of patience and love. They have taught us so many things about life. They have helped us so much by taking us to the airport and picking us up. We would drive our car over to the temple parking lot and the Smiths would take us over to the airport which is only 15 min away from them. We wouldn't have to pay for parking or a taxi. Plus we got to visit with them and enjoy their friendship every time they drove us! We have stayed at their place when we have had meetings on the temple grounds. I have hung out there and visited all afternoon on a number of occasions while Greg worked at the temple clinic. We feel so privileged to meet them and become friends with them. We must have been friends in heaven! We drove them to the airport about 12:30 pm. It took them a little while to get all of their luggage checked in. The 4 of us went to Wings for lunch before they got on the plane. We waved goodbye at the security and off they went! The Pococks left in October and the Zapatas left last Friday so the poor Anthonys are left to fend for themselves in the apartments over at the temple. Those of us left will mourn their leaving for a long time. Poor us! We drove back home in tons of traffic and so it is on this mission. FHE was good. The Griffins gave us an update on the media stuff and the church down here, especially now with the new Christmas message. We even got our pics taken and posted them on facebook with "A Savior is born.... Compassion is born" in both Spanish and English. The church is trying to get everyone to do this and flood social media with good thoughts for Christmas.
I'm glad today is over!
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| And off they go! Home again, home again, jiggity jig! |
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| They even have attitude - these Smiths! |
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| Packed in! |
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| We are going to miss you so much! Adios amigos! |
Tuesday, Dec 1st
I can't believe it's December. Christmas decorations are starting to pop up around town, but it's hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it is 75* outside and not alot of Christmas stuff going on around us. I survived last year so I will survive again this year. We had the lovely opportunity of going to get my new Visa today down at the Immigration building. We had to go back to the pueblito that's about 1/2 hour away to get more Promethren to send to the missions that are having so much trouble with mosquitos that are making so many missionaries sick with dengue or chikungunya. These diseases are bad and make the missionaries sick for up to 6 months. I hope this stuff helps to keep the mosquitos away. Then we drove down to Immigration to pick up my Visa about noon. We had a hard time finding a parking place but finally succeeded. We walked all the way to the building only to find out I couldn't pick up my visa until after 4 pm. Ugh! Welcome to Mexico! We walked clear back to our car and drove home to wait. We had a loaner car because ours was in the shop getting new brakes. They were sounding horrible and believe me - you need working brakes in this town! We waited until almost 4 to go back to Immigration. It was the same story and we practically parked in the same spot as earlier. We walked in, turned in my papers and had to sit and wait to be called up to fill out the paperwork. I waited and waited but finally got called. Another lady got called up at the same time and the worker had our green cards mixed up so she switched them and we finished with the stuff. I picked up my passport, papers and green card and off we went! So relieved to have that done. We walked back to our car and a parking officer was standing there filling out paperwork. DOUBLE UGH! WE had to pay for parking and Greg only paid for 25 min. We were 5 min over our time and they had already put a boot on our tire so we couldn't drive away until we paid the fine. The officers are big turkeys!!! Greg had to go up to the corner and down about 2 blocks to pay the fine at a 7/11. He had to wait to be helped and then when he got up to the counter, their cash register didn't work so that was stupid! In the mean time, I decided to get in the car and put my visa and passport away in my purse while I waited for Greg. THEN I looked at my passport and IT WASN'T MINE! I had to call Greg and he hurried back. We left the dumb guys with our tire boot and hurried back to Immigration to see if I could find my passport! Luckily the lady was sitting waiting for me to come back and I got mine back without too much stress! Oh my! I love living in Mexico. Besides the passport I had was from Venezuela! I don't ever want to go there! We had to walk a few blocks
to find a store where we could pay the dang parking ticket which was $40 for 5 min over! It has been a very stressful day. Greg's laptop is not working right so we grabbed the Griffins and headed to the mall to get it checked out. While Greg was in the Mac store we went shopping at Liverpool. We saw this crazy Santa and elves doing a wild dance. We had a hamburger at Johnny Rockets and a chocolate shake. I feel better about this day now!!!
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| Driving back from the pueblito! We counted 6 levels of overpasses! Yeah Mexico! |
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| There are the dang guys that put the boot on our tire. They are just standing there waiting and watching! I don't know why they don't go do something good in this city like catch the bad guys. That's too hard! It's lots easier to sit and sit and sit and wait all day! |
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| Santa and his two elves doing a wild and crazy dance in the store! |
Wednesday, Dec 2nd
Well, this was another fun day in paradise! Since I got my visa yesterday - today we got to go to the Drivers License division to get a new drivers license. Again, we had to park clear up the street, walk back to the place, up the long driveway and up the stairs! We get up there, stand in line and finally get to the window. The guy gives us a piece of paper with a dollar amount on it and tells us we need to go find a bank and pay for our licenses. There are no banks anywhere around so back down the stairs, down the driveway, up the road to our car we went. We had to drive for quite a distance to find a bank, get the bill paid and do the process all over again! I can't believe the way this government runs down here! They are all nuts!!! We stopped at Walmart on the way home to pick up some food and also stopped at Best Buy for a speaker, DVD player and a new camera card.
Tonight we went to the Andersons and watched a Hallmark Christmas movie and I helped Bonnie paint some little nativity sets for the nursery kids on Sunday. So there was some success for the day!
Thursday, Dec 3rd
We had a quiet morning, catching up and doing some errands. We left home at 2:30 pm with the Toblers to go to the 4 pm temple session. The traffic is so bad for whatever reason. Usually it takes us about 45 min to get to the temple, but today it took us 2 hours and therefore missed the 4 pm session. We did make it in time for the 5 pm session. The Toblers haven't been to the temple since it was opened in September and Greg doesn't get to go very much either so it was a nice time. Afterwards we took some pics of the Christmas lights that have just been turned on and then drove to a new mall (Torreo) to find the new Cheesecake Factory. There is no new Cheesecake Factory after all in this mall. We ended up at Red Lobster for some clam chowder. We finally got home at 10 pm. So to go to the temple and dinner - it took us 7 1/2 hours including travel time. And that is life in this city!
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| It was raining and dad didn't want to walk around to the front so he could get a good pic of the nativity! |
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| Not quite Temple Square but really pretty just the same! |
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| I like how they put the white lights on the trunk of the tree and then colored lights on top! |
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| Here is the weird metal tree. Not sure I like it but it adds light and color. |
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| This is a nice pic with the icicle lights around the front |
Friday, Dec 4th
We were up and going again this morning. The Rices came with us back to the temple. Greg had his clinic and I went to the temple with the Rices. This is their last time to go to the temple because they leave to go home on the 15th. We will be out of town next Friday so we can't take them then. It was a nice session - probably the best session I have been to here. We met Greg at the car afterwards and drove to President & Sister Halls mission home. Greg needed to check on a sick missionary there. It is always nice to visit with Sister Hall. She is the sweetest lady. We then drove back to our area and went to Ruebens for a hamburger for an early dinner. We got home at 5:20. I didn't even get out of the car. Greg dropped his stuff off at our place, picked up the Griffins and we were off to a movie - "Love the Coopers" We didn't like the movie very well. We thought it would be something different but it did highlight feelings of family members especially at Christmas time. It was kind of sad. We got back home about 9 pm so I was gone almost 12 hours today. "Such a busy mission!"
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