Back to another area where I served plus Happy birthday Mitch!

Saturday & Sunday, Feb 14th - 15th💞
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!  WE WISH YOU ALL LOTS OF LOVE IN YOUR LIFE!

THOUGHT: "BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!  HAVE FAITH IN YOUR ABILITIES!  WITHOUT A HUMBLE BUT REASONABLE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR OWN POWERS YOU CANNOT BE SUCCESSFUL OR HAPPY!"

Happy birthday Mitch! (on Sunday) We are so glad you are a part of our family!
Greg - Saturday we got up early - saw a couple of sick missionaries in the West mission office then set off for a meeting at the temple grounds.  I have 6 doctors who assist me in the Mexico city area and we planned a 3 day seminar for the service missionary doctors that help me.  They all come to Mexico City, stay in the old MTC dorms, eat in the cafeteria on site and sit through long meetings.  They often bring their families so we need to plan something to keep the small kids busy.  After that we had to race to the new MTC at the old Benemerito school.  I served in the hills around the school for only 3 weeks but had a couple of baptisms including a student at the school who was a cross country runner.  It was the poorest area I worked in - cardboard houses with corrugated tin roofs, dirt streets with sewage running down the gutters.  It was so poor we had to live quite a ways away from our area because there was no safe housing around it.  We manned the clinic at the MTC which is usually closed so it was quite slow.  I did see a young man who while playing soccer had his heart start racing up to 200 beats a minute.  I laid him down with his feet up and massaged his carotid artery and he went right back to 83 beats a minute.  We ate in the cafeteria and talked to a bunch of sisters heading to Dallas Texas.  We got home just in time for dinner then the Andersons invited us over for movie night - Watched an old classic - "Return to Me" - probably from the 90's for Valentine's day.  Sunday we had trouble finding parking at the church and even though we were there 5 minutes early had to sit way in the back.  The youth speaker was a 13 year old girl whose father is with the FBI down here.  She has only been here a year and she gave a talk in very, very good spanish.  We went to the Gospel Essentials class with some of the recent converts of our ward.  They are really progressing.   The father of one family that was baptized 4 weeks ago received the Aaronic Priesthood and passed the sacrament last week and blessed the sacrament this week.  He is going to be a leader in the Church.  We had general stake priesthood meeting tonight.  The stake center is about 35 minutes away from us and there is very little parking so we left an hour early to get parking.    The entire meeting was on Self-sufficiency and was very good.  Tomorrow I get to go and get my senior citizen card.  when you are over 60 years old this card gets you on the subway for free and a large discount at most of the tourist sites around town.
PS I don't get a card!

Here are the pics from the MTC!
Greg worked up in them thar hills on his mission!
The houses are not made of cardboard anymore!
Thank heavens!

There are ALOT of people that live up there!
It's nice in this little oasis of the MTC
but out there it is dangerous!

A pic the Andersons took of us at the butterflies!

Valentine cookies I made and had the 6 other sisters here
come over while our husbands were at the Priesthood meeting
to help decorate them!
No one took any of them so they are going to the
mission home in the morning for instant consumption!!!
Do you like my new tablecloth?
Te Amo!

I sure wish I had a nice pic of some pretty Valentine flowers - they died on Friday!
Greg got them on Wednesday!  He needs to take more time in picking flowers!
I'm not sure he will ever slow down and smell the roses!!!

Happy Birthday Richie!

Thursday, Feb 12th   HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHIE!

THOUGHT: "KEEP YOUR FACE ALWAYS TOWARD THE SUNSHINE-
                              AND SHADOWS WILL FALL BEHIND YOU!"

Richie - happy birthday today!  29 years ago today was a great day because I had you!
Today we got up and had to drive to the south mission to see some sick missionaries.  Greg was able to see 3 or 4 sick missionaries, but the one we went to see didn't show up.  He didn't know about the meeting!  Ha!  Welcome to Mexico!  We left and drove around the south part of the city.  We drove past the Olympic  stadium and the University of Mexico which is a huge campus!  Very nice!  We decided to go to the Ciudadela to get a tablecloth on the way home!  Well, guess what?  Yep - we got lost and couldn't get on the right road!  It took us an hour to get to where we wanted to be!  I took pics of what lost looks like!    We haven't been lost for a few days so life is improving!  We finally made it and got a tablecloth!  You all know how it is shopping with Greg!  He is always in a hurry and down here - there's no place to go!  I will never get him to calm down!  We struggled through the traffic and made it home!  We had a quiet evening, enjoying face time watching Richie and Mitch get surprised for their birthdays. Mitch's is on Sunday!  All of my kids were together (YAY!) for the party  of pizza and fast karts!  They had fun and we had fun watching them!  Thanks Sara for the face time!

I told Greg he had to take 3 pics on the drive home from Xalapa!
Here is #1 - a pic of this mountain!

Pic #2 by Greg
Pic #3 didn't turn out!

There must be another Guadaloupe celebration going on!
People are walking and biking again to the city!
Also people decorate their trucks, bikes, cars, bodies
with Guadaloupe pics, tinsel, glitter and flowers!

Trying to get home from Xalapa!
It's hard to see, but there is a big bus sideways in
the intersection!  It is trying to turn right.
It has to keep backing up and going forward a little
This holds up traffic for a good 15 min!
It happens all the time!

Anyone want some chicken?

We were stopped at a light and this church was outside my window!
I love the cathedrals here!

OK we got on the wrong road coming home!
The big main road is over the left wall and we can't
find a way over there!
Except Greg and his crazy luck - we kept driving down this lonesome
road and it came right out onto the freeway where we were
suppose to be!  I use tons of faith listening to Greg!

Yes!  This is what lost looks like!
We have no idea where we are!

Another lost pic!
At least that is a nice street over there!
We are sure we are getting closer now!

We don't know what this arch is for!
It is very colorful pots with plants growing out of them
in an arch!  Go figure!

Friday, Feb 13th

Today was a calm and manageable day!  We had Temple clinic at 10 am.  We saw a lot of cute missionaries that were sick!  I love hanging out with them!  The Pococks came to visit us!  They live next to the temple clinic!  They invited us to come up to their place for lunch after we were done with the missionaries!  So yes we went!  She is such a good cook and we love to visit with them!  She made yummy chicken enchiladas, rice and salad.  We had some yummy popsicles for dessert.  these popsicles are popular down here.  They are made with real, fresh fruit and cream!  Nothing better!
We finally got home through the traffic!  At 5:00 all of the couples met in the lobby and went to a very fancy steak restaurant called Loma Linda for a nice Valentines Dinner!  There were 16 of us! Greg and I ordered Filet Mignon and a salad to share!  We got one of those wedge salads that could have fed the whole bunch of us!   We all forgot we were in Mexico for a little while!  Very nice time!
Te Amo!

Here we are at our Valentine dinner!
The couple in front sitting across from each other is
our mission president!
President & Sister Whitehead!
Every once in awhile they squeeze out time to be with us!
We are on the right side half way down!

The Andersons took the dinner pic and  to be funny
sent one of them as well - so I put it in!
Elder Anderson reminds me of my dad!!!

Pretty Roses for a day!

Wednesday, Feb. 11th

THOUGHT:  "THE SECRET OF BEING HAPPY IS ACCEPTING WHERE YOU ARE IN LIFE AND MAKING THE MOST OUT OF EVERY DAY!"

Today has been a relatively mellow day!  We had our monthly meeting with the Area Authorities at 9 this morning.  We took our car in to get a check up so we got a loaner car.  I spent an hour in the West mission office practicing my espanol with Sister Tobler!  Wow, I am going to be a good spanish speaker any time soon now!  We then walked down to the Telmex center to pay our bill with the Toblers!  It was a beautiful sunny warm day.  One thing I like about Mexico is the abundance of flowers they have everywhere!  They grow like crazy here and are so beautiful!  There are flower shops on most corners and some places in between!  The people here also do the  very best arrangements!  They are amazing - especially this week for Valentines!  By the way - the flowers dad got me for my 3 month anniversary (2 doz roses) died today!  He thought he would get by on Valentines day with these but no such luck!  I bet I don't get any new ones on Valentines either!  I am going to take some pics of the arrangements around here!  They are magnificent!  Any who - after paying our internet bill we walked over to our favorite taco shop! (mostly favorite cause we haven't gotten sick from eating there yet!)  We got the usual and enjoyed the Toblers company!  We walked part way home and caught the bus the rest of the way up the hill!
After a nice 10 min rest I started working on the blog and it started getting darker and darker!  It started to rain.  This is the first real rainstorm we have been in since we got here!  The rainy season doesn't start until June they say!  Then it pours every afternoon and night for 3 months!  That should be exciting to drive in!  Greg, Sister Anderson and I left at 4:30 to go to Costco!  We have walked there before so it is not that far away!  It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there because the traffic was so dang bad!  My nerves are shot with the crazy people down here!  We all did our shopping and got home a little faster than it took us to go there!  The rain had stopped by then and the air was nice and clean for one second!
We had some dinner, dad worked on missionary stuff and I worked on my little project for awhile - then to bed!
Nos Vemos!
More pics!

Good times meeting Elder Anjewierden in Xalapa!
This is 2 missionaries from Lincoln Lane in a week!
Elder Anjewierden and Sister Castillo from last friday!

This is what a zone leader conference looks like!
There are no tables on the other side of the room because
no one had a key to the table closet so they turn chairs
around and use them as a table!

The Greers  They are from Gilbert Az and very awesome people!

ANOTHER BIG DAY.......3 MONTHS ON THE MISSION!

Tuesday, Feb 10th -

THOUGHT:  "TWO ROADS DIVERGED IN A WOOD AND I.... I TOOK THE ONE LESS TRAVELED BY, AND THAT HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE! "     Robert Frost

Can you believe it?  I made it 3 months on the mission!  On the 22nd it will be 3 months in Mexico and I haven't been sick once yet!
We got up early and helped Sister Greer pack up all the food and supplies she took to the church for the zone leader conference.  This mission press and wife go all out on taking care of their missionaries.  Sister Greer had Costco muffins, yogurt drinks first thing at the meeting.  Then at 10 am they got the rest of the muffins and a big cup of fruit.  Then I went with Sis Greer to pick up 17 pizzas at Little Cesears pizza.  That is a lot of pizza!  The missionaries gobbled that up, with a huge salad (they don't get fresh salad or fruit very often) and yummy homemade brownies.  We stayed until 2:30 and then hopped in the car and drove 4 1/2 hours home!  I drove all the way.  We tried to another way back into the city.  We found out later that we went through a dangerous area where kidnapping has been popular!  We made it home -FINALLY!  It was a long day!

As we were driving along to Xalapa we noticed these
funny looking pine trees with needles only at the top!

Little houses tucked in everywhere along the road!

More pine trees

More houses tucked in under the trees along the road!

and more houses!
Sorry about blurry!  I was zooming along in the car!

coming into town - Xalapa

Fancy hotel!

Move over Stringham lumber...
Here is the new lumber truck!

The Greers Mission Home
Fancy!

You can always tell where the mission home is
by the 8 pizza boxes waiting for garbage pickup!

More pics tomorrow!

BIG DAY! WE GOT OUR MEXICAN DRIVERS LICENSES!

Monday, Feb 9th

THOUGHT:  "WHEN YOU GET INTO A TIGHT PLACE AND EVERYTHING GOES AGAINST YOU, TILL IT SEEMS YOU COULD NOT HANG ON A MINUTE LONGER,  NEVER GIVE UP THEN, FOR THAT IS JUST THE PLACE AND TIME THE TIDE WILL TURN!
                                                                                                               Harriett Beecher Stowe

Happy Monday! Hope everybody had a great weekend!  We had such a big morning due to the fact that we got our Mexican drivers licenses!  Now I can legally be a big jerk like everyone else on the road!!  YAY!  The traffic seems to be getting worse!  It is like spring around here, and everyone must be out and about, pulling in front of me, stopping in front of me, turning in front of me, walking in front of me, and honking behind me!  Oh my gosh people!!!!!!   Calm down!
You can tell the traffic is getting to me!  Any who - we left in the early afternoon to drive to Xalapa.
It was a 4 hour drive and quite nice actually.  We drove through the mountains and they are always pretty.  Oh my heck!  We got to the Xalapa Mission home and met the Greers.  They are from Gilbert Arizona and have been on their mission 7 months.  Their home is INCREDIBLE!   It is a new home and looks like a very fancy  resort somewhere!  It has 6 bedrooms that are all decorated to the hilt!  There is even tile in a beautiful pattern in the garage!  There is a red corion counter top in the kitchen that I would love to have!  There is a little patio off the dining room.  Sister Greer pushed a button and a garage door like thing closed over the patio and closed it off!  Awesome!  We had a nice dinner that Sister Greer had made and a good visit!  We cut up fruit for the zone leader conference in the morning and went to bed tired!

Here is the crew that rode horses up to see the butterflies!
From L-R Andersons, Toblers, us, Rices, Sandbergs, Hobbs!

We ate (at least tried to eat) lunch at a little place by the butterflies
My attempt at a selfie!

A mariachi band serenaded us!

The star - a cute 8 year old boy that could sing and play
his guitar!

This is my lunch!  YUM!
There was beans, rice and yellow gooey chicken!
I choked down the beans, rice and tortilla
but couldn't do the chicken!
I have started praying not to get sick!

Greg's lunch!  Look at his happy face!
He had beans, cactus and beef of some sort!

Elder Anderson got a big piece of nopales (cactus)

Here is the kitchen where our food was cooked!
Look at that fire between the ladies!
Where are the clorox wipes???

This is the gang that watched our 3 cars while we were
seeing the butterflies!  Someone in a truck had shown up
just before we got back with a load of toys for all the kids around.
We couldn't find out what the occasion was.  That's why
they are holding toys!
I wonder how well they watched our cars!!!!

Millions of Monarch butterflies

Saturday, Feb 7th

THOUGHT: "WHEN ONE DOOR OF HAPPINESS CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS, BUT OFTEN WE LOOK SO LONG AT THE CLOSED DOOR THAT WE DO NOT SEE THE ONE THAT HAS BEEN OPENED FOR US!"                                  Helen Keller 

We got up early to travel 4 1/2 hours into the interior of Mexico.  The area presidency has been a little reluctant to allow travelers to this area due to safety but things have improved lately.  We got to a town called Zitácuaro in the state of Michoacan.  From there we took a narrow side road for about 40 minutes - the last 10 minutes on a road with about a 15 degree incline.  We topped out at 10,000 feet and got on a dirt road.  We found the preserve and mounted some horses for a mile ride further up the mountain.  When we arrived where they tied up the horses I was only seeing an occasional butterfly.  We walked for about 50 yards and suddenly there were butterflies everywhere.  They were in clumps on the pine trees, on bushes and filled the air.  They had roped off so we couldn't interact with them but we had fun taking pictures.  According to Wikipedia these butterflies come down from 3000 miles away in the eastern US and Canada.  That is a long ways to flap your wings.  They are so small that a good wind could blow them to kingdom come.  We were told that they have several generations that last only a few weeks but the generation that flies down to Mexico for the winter and back lives about 6 months.  I am not sure how they know where to come since they are born in the US.  Like I said they only occupied about 2 - 3 square blocks of an enormous forest.  How they find their way here and back to the US is unfathomable.  They had a zip line there but it was kind of lame.  We had an interesting lunch there.  Peg ordered chicken and got a thigh from a malnurished chicken with some rice and beans.  I got one of those steaks that they pound to death and is about 2 mm thick with slices of cactus deep fried and some beans.  We did a little shopping and returned home to get here about 7:30 - almost 11 hours for the roundtrip.  We have been trying to do something fun on Saturdays with the other couples.  In two weeks we are going back to the pyramids with a stake president who is an archeologist.  That will be fun.  I am not sure I will undertake climbing the pyramid of the sun again - that was quite a climb.  Sunday we went to church.  Peg was asked to say the closing prayer in Relief Society and I am told did an ok job.  We  then made a meal for the new greenies - we are no longer the couple with the least amount of time in Mexico.  (Actually the Sandbergs came a little after us but since she was born in the colonies and lived here in Lomas de Chapultepec as a young girl when her dad was mission president I am not counting them.)  We have another travel day tomorrow back down to Xalapa near Veracruz to meet with the mission president there.  They have invited us to stay with them in the mission president's home (they all have really nice homes with lots of bedrooms since they usually have the brand new elders or sisters stay with them the first night.)

A cute little Indian lady selling tea leaves or something!
Look at her poor shoes!
We gave her some money, but didn't take the leaves!

The gas station guy wanted his pic taken with the Indian lady!

Someone's house as we were driving along!

Another house!

and another house!

On our cabellos riding to the butterflies!

Our guide, carrying Elder Andersons walking stick!
Elder Anderson got Mersa in his back and nearly died
a couple years ago!  He made it riding his horse
all the way up the mountain!

See all the orange tint on the trees!
They are all clusters of millions of butterflies!

I didn't get a very good pic of all the butterflies flying around!
You can see a few though!

A close up of the Monarch butterflies on the trees!

Pic of us and a million butterflies!

Here is one up close!

Here is a male and female butterfly!
The male has the two little dots on his wings
and the female has big broad stripes!

This cow made me laugh!  He stood and stared at us as
we went up the hill on the horses and was still
standing in the same place watching for us to come back!

Nos Vamos!  I will do more pics tomorrow!!