Another new week! Fun!

Monday, June 15th

THOUGHT: "FAMILY IS THE CENTER OF LIFE.
                       IT IS THE KEY TO ETERNAL HAPPINESS."
                                                                               L. TOM PERRY

Can I just say  - I am dang sick of the dentist!  Yuck!!  Dr. Colin spent over an hour drilling in my head trying to fix my tooth so he can put a crown (sombrero like Kaylee says)  on it.  Then he has the gall to say - you look tired!  I AM TIRED OF HAVING MY HEAD DRILLED INTO!! Hopefully after today I only have one more visit to get the real crown put on.  That appointment is next Wednesday and then I am done, done, done!  No matter what!!!
I had to drive to the Temple clinic after the dentist and I felt like I was in lalalalala land!
At least nothing hurts in there right now!!  We were suppose to be here at noon, but didn't get there until 1:30 due to the dentista.  We saw 2 sick sisters and that was that!!!  We ended up taking two sisters back to their area which is near the MTC.  We were headed to the MTC to meet the two new doctors that have just arrived!  We met Dr. Montoya but actually already knew the other doctor -  Dr and Sister Harston.  We know them because we bought our house on Lauri Kay from them 21 years ago!  We all have seemed to change a little in the past 21 years.  It was good to see them and visit for awhile.  The Beechers were there and got in on the conversation.  They are such nice people!  We left really late to drive home for FHE.  We got back to our place at 6:20, shoved some food in and were only about 7 min late for FHE.  Elder and Sister Munoz gave the lesson.  It was on the Mayan concept of the creation.  Popul Vuh is the Mayan book of the creation.  I know how I am when presented with a lot of history!  Ugh!  I had a hard time staying awake!  Greg on the other hand loved it and stayed awake perfectly!  Huh!   Maybe we need to have more history lessons in church so Greg can stay awake more often!!
Hasta Luego!
 

This is driving to the MTC.
Greg served here and  had a convert
that would run up and down this mountain.

All those cement houses!
At least they are not built out of cardboard and tin
like they were when Greg was here 100 years ago!!

                                                                       
Tuesday, June 16th

Today has been a very productive day for Greg!  We drove up to the North mission, met Pres. and Sister Titensor and went to meet with 2 new  doctors for their mission.  That will be a relief to get some new doctors to help see the sick missionaries up in that mission.  We drove home on the awesome highway that doesn't have much traffic!  You have to pay for the drive, but it was worth it to get back into Mexico City without tons of stress.  We took the Andersons shopping for more yarn.  We leave tomorrow for Coulican and I needed some yard for my next project!  We had to hurry though because we needed to get back to take our new friend Sister Griffin to the hospital.  She is suffering from a kidney stone.  We found a good Urologist and after some tests put her right in the hospital.  We stayed with the Griffins until about 9:30 pm.  We had annoyed the nursing staff enough so we came home!!  Poor girl - she is really suffering in pain!  I hope this gets resolved very soon!
We had to pack and get ready for our trip tomorrow!  

I took this pic while leaving the itty, bitty pharmacy
where we interviewed a new doctor.  This lady is buying
raw chicken in that case!
(who knows how long it has been sitting in there!)
There are so many tiny stores - tiendas around town!
The pharmacy was about 6ft x 12 ft.
So tiny!  The husband is the pharmacist and the wife
is the doctor.  She walked to the pharmacy with a cute
little boy in a stroller!
Simple life!

On the way back home we had to drop our car off for maintenance
at the church office building so we had to drive through the pueblito
where we walk up to sometimes.
Here is a car repair shop!
I love how the cars are parked on the sidewalk and halfway in the street!

This is a Guadaloupe shrine.
Last week I put up pics of the alley
and kids playing.  This is the front of
that alley.  In-between those two little shops
back there is the alley where tons of people live!

Driving down the street we found a pet store!
This store is about 10 x 10 ft!
Good times!!!

A great time in caves and Taxco!

Saturday, June 13th

THOUGHT: "WHEN WE LOVE, WE ALWAYS STRIVE TO BECOME BETTER 
                          THAN WE ARE.  WHEN WE STRIVE TO BECOME BETTER THAN
                             WE ARE, EVERYTHING AROUND US BECOMES BETTER TOO!!"

I thought I had planned a pretty good Saturday adventure.  We set out to see Ixtapan de la Sal  a golf and water park resort in the mountains south of Toluca.  We invited the Rices and the Smiths and Pococks and Anthonys to come a long.  We left about 8 am and met up with the others at 10 at Ixtapan de la Sal.  We didn't get to see the golf course and the water park looked like a blast.  Could be a place to take the kids when or if they come.  We then drove another 40 minutes to the Grutas (caverns) of Cacahuamilpa.  These are listed as some of the largest in the world.  We got in line with a large group for the 11 am tour.  It lasted about 2 1/2 hours and we covered over 2 miles in a huge cave.  It was spectacular but the walk was long.  Half way in there was a bathroom, disguised to look like the rest of the cave.  We then drove up a steep mountain to Taxco.  Taxco at one time was the silver capital of Mexico.  The silver mines are all shut down now but there are more silver shops than anywhere in the world.  It is built on a steep mountain and the drive to the center square was really exciting.  We found parking and tried to find a restaurant.  A local tour guide led us to Del Angel Inn. Very quaint.  I had hoped to find the restaurant I took Peg to on our honeymoon about 38 years ago but it was closed down.  We purchased the requisite ear rings and silver ring (got my anniversary shopping done.)  On the way back to Cuernavaca where we had planned on eating I got a call from the mission president's wife that she had a sister missionary whose mother was frantic after seeing her skype on mother's day - she thought her daughter was losing her hair.  The sister was in Cuernavaca so I agreed to stop by and see if she really was going bald.  This caused us a delay (Peg won't let me forget this) as we sent the others on to the restaurant and we arrived about 40 minutes later.  Since you are all holding your breath - she wasn't bald - may have just been a bad hair day for her.  We had one of the best meals I have had in Mexico at Las Mañanitas - a downtown hotel.  We got there after they had put away most of the exotic birds that roam the grounds but did see some flamingos and Tucans.  We left Cuernavaca for a 2 hour drive home at about nine - getting to the toll booth just outside of Mexico City about 5 after 10 (this is where I got in trouble)  They had started the night time construction on the main freeway into Mexico city at 10 pm and had shut down all lanes.  We sat there for over an hour until one lane opened up and we snailed it through to the Periferico (main freeway into town.  We arrived at our hotel at 12:15 realizing that we hadn't done our laundry (Saturday night is laundry night).  Oh well.  

Driving to the caves
Beautiful countryside in Mexico!

More beautiful countryside

Main Fountain in Ixtapan de la sal

People going through garbage on garbage day!

Abandoned big home!

Typical home in town

Chicken restaurant alongside road outside of town.
Big brick oven full of chickens cooking!

Hard to imagine we are still in Mexico!

Almost to the caves.

Lake along the way!

Nice purple house!
All the houses are painted bright colors.

Cool tree with big roots growing out of mountainside!

Entrance to the cave!

Pic of inside of cave.
Most of my pics didn't turn out - too dark!

It was quite a hike - 1 1/4 mile in and 1 1/4 mile out!
Good friends to go with us!
L-R Smiths, us, Pococks, Rices, Anthonys

Signs tells about the cave.

Eternal springs outside the cave!

I am putting the Taxco pics on tomorrow!!!

Sunday, June 14th

THOUGHT: "WE CAN'T PREDICT ALL THE STRUGGLES AND STORMS IN LIFE,
                       NOT EVEN THE ONES JUST AROUND THE CORNER, BUT AS
                       PERSONS OF FAITH AND HOPE, WE KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF
                       ANY DOUBT THAT THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IS TRUE 
                       AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME."      L. Tom Perry.

We actually were early for church.  There were wonderful talks and a recent convert helped to pass the sacrament with his son.  There is always a great spirit there.  It took me over 2 hours to do all my follow ups for the week on sick missionaries to prepare my report for Elder Schwitzer.  One mission president's wife who I have just taught to use the church website where health problems are recorded entered 190 entries (she had been saving up.)  Peg made me help her go through these - it is generally her job to review what the mission president's wives have recorded to make sure we don't miss a hospitalization or serious illness.  This week it was seizures, ACL injuries, and only 4 missionaries went home for health problems (three weeks ago it was over 20.)  We had dinner with the Griffins and Hackings - the Andersons were sick.  On my to do list this week - our horn is not working and it is absolutely unsafe to drive in Mexico without a horn.  It is required to sound your horn 1/20th of a second after the light turns green to make sure the person in front of you has not fallen asleep at the wheel.

First glimpse of Taxco
This information guy looks helpful!

There is Taxco built on the side of the mountain!

Small red heart on this mountain

Homes built right up the mountain

Interesting engineering

The roads are really steep

Selling wares on top of your car

Little cobble stone streets

This is a two way street - carefully passing

Selling wares on the cobble stone streets

Now here are some energetic basket sellers!

The big cathedral at the top on the city in the main square.

Narrow alley to get from parking (that was crazy in itself) to the main square

Main square of Taxco

Chalk outline of someone who died?

Beautiful restaurant - Del Angel Inn - also a hotel on the main square.

Our group of travelers - the Smiths, Pococks, Anthoneys, Rices and us.

Beautiful view out of the window of our restaurant

Same

Courtyard

Suck it in Stevens

Jesus, our guide - we asked him a question when we drove into the main square and he found us parking, took us through the alleyway to our restaurant, helped us find silver stores to buy some things and collected a nice tip - he was great

Sister Pocock with the Angel

Door lock?

Everyone but me bought a hat

Another fun week in Paradise coming!!

Monday, June 8th

THOUGHT:  "WE CAN CHANGE OUR LIVES.  WE CAN DO,  HAVE, AND BE
                             EXACTLY WHAT WE WISH!                 Tony Robbins

Groundhog day!  There isn't much going on today.  Monday's are always the slowest and quietest because the missionaries don't want to be sick on P day!  Elder Pieper's wife called and wanted her daughter that just returned home from a mission in Taiwan checked.  Her knee has been bothering her so we made a house call (that's how bored we are).  The area presidency lives in a very nice complex up on the hill!  The traffic is horrible again today so I am glad we didn't have to go anywhere else!
When the traffic is this bad you are going to have to be darn sick for me to come see you!!!
I made blueberry bars for FHE tonight.  They only turned out so-so!  Don't think I will be making them again.  Elder Montoya reported on Elder Bednar's visit here last week!  It was a real blessing for those that got to hear him speak.  Everywhere he went he asked the audience if they had any questions.  He gave peace to a lot of people!  He was here for 10 days and they estimate he saw over 11,000 people.  Amazing!

Tuesday, June 9th

Well, all the antibiotics I have taken the past week are blasting through me now!  I guess I won't be leaving the house today!   I think I will go drink more yogurt!  UGH!  I did miss walking down to the Telcel place to pay our bill, but Greg walked down there with the Toblers and then went to LaOnda for lunch!  I was sad to miss, but didn't dare leave the potty!  This afternoon I felt a lot better so I went with Sister Sandberg up the pueblito to visit two ladies we are suppose to be checking on!  The one sister has not been home the past two months we have gone.  I did get to meet the other one - her name is Sara.  She is a seamstress and spends all day every day sewing and making alterations.  After our visit we walked down the street a block and went into a salon to get a pedicure and Sis. Sandberg wanted her hair trimmed.  I don't dare get my hair cut here so I am letting it grow until I get back home!  K I am a little worried about infection after the pedicure.  First Irma got a big bucket from the corner of the room, filled it up with ?????(clean) water.  I put my feet in that and then she proceeded to trim and paint my toenails.  She even shaved my heels so I am feeling pretty good about the pedicure.  It cost me about $8.  Then she took the bucket of water and escorted it out the front door and dumped it in the street, then threw the bucket back in the corner to be used next time!!
I never did see any antibacterial stuff around!  I am doing OK, but the lady that did Sis. Sandberg cut her toe while trimming it and she was bleeding all the way home.  We had to walk about 1/2 mile to get home!  I sure hope she doesn't get an infection.  Besides the other lady cut her hair way too short and she is upset about that!  Poor girl!  She is leaving on Friday to go to a family reunion in Minnesota.  I kept reminding her that hair and toenails grow back, just watch the cut!
We are going to bed early because we have to get up at 5:30 in the morning to take the Hobbs to the airport so they can go home from their mission!!!
PS Greg bought me beautiful flowers a day early for our 7th month anniversary!
I took some pics of my trip up to the pueblito!  I like it up there!  Maybe I will spend more time hanging out up there!!!

From the street there is just a little alley way to walk down!
This staircase is just inside and who knows where it goes??
It probably goes to someone's home!

This is standing in the front looking down into the alley.
We went to visit a sister whose door right on the left
there.  She wasn't home but I was watching two
little girls chasing each other around the place
in and out of rooms and up and down.
They were so cute and happy!

I looked up and took this pic of all the wiring!
It's everywhere!!

We came to this nursery as were walking down the street.

Someone has put tons of plants down this fancy alley way
to be sold as part of the nursery!

I liked this rack of cute little cactus plants growing!

A lady sitting on the left there has set up her little produce
store on the street.  We don't even know what some
of these fruits are!

This lady has set up her trinket store on the street as well!
Anyone need a scrubber???

Someone else has made some shelves and set out boxes of fruit!
Also there were a lot of people standing in a line all the way up the sidewalk.
We found out they were waiting for fresh tortillas that were being made in this
little tiny "hole in the wall"
I guess people go 2-3 times a day to get fresh corn tortillas!

I love this pic.  This dad was walking his girls home
from school and the little one wouldn't hold her
sisters hand.  Look at her hand behind her back!
Her dad gave her a stern talking to and off they went
holding hands down the sidewalk!

My pedicure

Sister Sandberg is getting her pedicure and a hair trim
all at the same time!  Good work!

Irma - very cute girl!

My flowers for my anniversary!
Greg broke the one in front!
Very pretty pink today!

Wednesday, June 10th  Happy 7 months Anniversary!!!

Time is starting to go faster.  A bunch of sister missionaries have told me that after the first 6 months time really does fly by!  I'm sure I can say it is "flying" by, but it does help when we are busy.  This week Greg has NOT been busy you all of you that know him, know how delightful he is when he is bored!!  I hate to say it but I hope some missionaries get sick real soon!!!   HAHA!
We did get up at 5:30 this morning to drive the Hobbs to the airport.  We had to get a van from the church and stuffed all of their stuff in it and off we went!  We parked in the parking lot so we could help them get all of their luggage into the airport.  It took us about 50 min to get them all set to get on the plane.  It was a busy time of day at the airport!  I can't believe the Hobbs are leaving!  It makes me homesick every time one of the couples leaves the mission!  Good luck to them!
It took us 33 minutes to get to the airport this morning and 2 hours to get home!  We left at 5:35 and got home at 10 am.
Wednesday evening we had our last Spanish class with the ward.  We were suppose to bring treats or finger foods.  There were only 3 people that came to the class besides the 6 of us missionaries.  Plenty of treats for everyone!!  It was a beautiful night walking home from the church.  We seem to be getting a break in the rain for a minute so we will enjoy the nice weather!!

Jim and Monique Hobbs leaving their mission
to go home to Folsom California!

Thursday, June 11th

THOUGHT:  "WHAT'S MEANT TO BE WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY!"
                                                                                                         Trisha Yearwood

Not such a happy day today!  I had to go in to the specialist for my root canal!  Can you imagine getting a root canal in Mexico????  Me neither!  At least the specialist was young and cute.  He did a good job and has been doing root canals for 12 years he told me!   It only took him 1 hour and 10 min to do the job so that made me happy.  Also, I don't have to come back for a second appointment to finish the job! YAY!   I didn't feel like doing anything the rest of the afternoon so Greg went crazy with boredom!  We called the Griffins and invited them to go to Costco with us!  They will go anywhere cause they aren't very busy yet!  We decided to eat dinner at the food court in the mall by
Costco.  Actually costco makes a good pulled pork sandwich!  Greg got the usual hotdog and then had to go hunt down some tacos to top him off!  The Griffins were dying for a normal hamburger so they went to Carls Jr. and everyone was happy!   We had to go visit Bonnie Anderson tonight.  She has been sick for 3-4 days now.  We can't figure out what she has so we keep praying she will feel better soon!  Hasta Luego!!


Friday, June 12th

Another early morning airport trip!  We volunteered to drive the Sandbergs to the airport.  They are going to Minnesota for a family reunion for 10 days.  Lucky them!!  We got them to the airport around 8:45 am, parked the car and walked over to the Marriott Hotel next to the airport for some breakfast!  They had a buffet and Greg can never turn down a buffet!  It still consisted of Mexican food and I guess I am getting used to it!  We got to the Temple clinic right at 10 am so life is good on this Friday!
Greg only saw about 6 missionaries, but I got to give two shots in the tushy to a Senior missionary (friend) and a young sister.  The older missionary never felt a thing and the stuff I had to give the younger sister was thick so it hurt lots more I am sure.  She doesn't speak English so I didn't pursue the pain level of the shot!  Poor thing!  Then I got together with the Smiths for a nice visit.  When Greg was done we got the Smiths and Pococks and Anthony's and went to lunch/dinner at Toks!  Our meals were OK.  No matter what you get - it's still Mexican food!!
It took us almost 2 hours to drive home!  I don't know why the traffic has been so bad this past week! I don't even think there has been a Jewish holiday or anything!!  We got home with a little time to spare before we went to the Andersons for movie night!  I love movie night!   We watched the second Bourne movie.  Good times!!