lessons I am learning

We have an Hermana in the hospital right now.  Her parents have been very upset about everything Dennis has done.  Her mother who is a nurse wanted her daughter to come home immediately.  She demanded that her daughter's meds and procedure be stopped or at least delayed. This is the first time I recall parents behaving like this.  Most are very grateful for the help we are giving to their child. They are usually concerned but polite and trust that Dennis and the doctors at the hospital are helping the best they can.  These parents were very demanding to the point of calling the doctor at the hospital here and trying to speak to him, in his broken English but stating to us that they couldn't understand him.  They demanded that someone be with their daughter who was bilingual 24 hours a day.  We sent a Latino sister, a missionary here at the CCM who is originally from the colonies and who speaks English to be her companion instead of her own companion.

So what am I to learn from all this behavior.  I have concluded, as I have seen the Herman's actions and attitude that children don't have to be like their parents.  If there is a better way, a more Christ-like way that we should adopt than behave like our parents even though we grew up with that and it is programmed into us to behave like they do we need to rise above it and be better.

Sunday, February 28 2016

Dennis and I have made two trips to the hospital today. We went this morning and this evening to switch out companions for the sick sister. I am so grateful that she is off her IV and is doing better. Tomorrow morning she will be discharged. She is well and ready to go back to the CCM after 5 nights in the hospital. She along with her parents is a good case to put behind us. 

Gratitude is a wonderful Christ-like characteristic to develop. 

good missionaries and some singers

Hermanas Rigby, Webb, Guymon and  Holt.  They are wonderful singers and did two special musical numbers for us at devotionals.  

Elder Corey, on the left had to stay for two extra weeks because of his appendicitis procedure and a longer stay in the hospital than we would have liked.  He came back to the CCM and then due to getting flue like symptoms after coming back to the CCM had to return to the hospital

This was the whole group from North America that came in on February 3.  Why did they send us only one elder?  I don't know but he has two sister companions expect at night and for gym time then they have assigned him a elder from another district who came after he did.   Sister Smith (hands on hips) on the end and Sister Skousen in the middle are both excellent pianists.  I had them play and lead when Elder Oaks and Elder Clayton came to speak.  They asked me to take their picture because they all happen to wear rainbow colors that day. 

Elder Mayer in the middle and his two companions.  

Mexico has a big problem with theft.  There are always guards at the store entrance and security guards wandering the isles of the stores, but I had never seen a guard on the ladder before.  

borscht and trees

I made borscht with beets and cabbage and other veggies after we went to the Russian cafe and I had ordered it.  My cooking adventure was also after I had given the RS lesson last Sunday.  The pressure was off so I could finally get to it.  I love my veggies.  Today we went to Costco and spent $2000 + pesos on fruits and veggies (oh and a container of chocolate covered almonds for Dennis).  Then we went to Walmart and bought some more veggies and fruits (only not in such big quantities).  I am a happy camper now.  

Spring is coming to the CCM and a lot of the Jacaranda trees are starting to bloom.  Catty said I need to wait until about March 21st and everything will be in bloom.  The flowering trees are a welcome site as it has been a fairly cold winter for Mexico City. (Some mornings when I would go out to exercise it was a cold as 35 degrees).  The blossoms must come first and then the leaves appear.  They also have a very large seed pod that I have been collecting when I see them on the ground.  For now they go in a little basket I bought at an outdoor market.

butterfly reserve p-day

We drove for three hours (it was supposed to be two hours but traffic in this city is crazy) and then arrived at Pieda Herrada at the Valle de Bravo for the government owned butterfly reserve.  

First a bathroom stop at the bathrooms which were good.  We just had to get a bucket of water to flush our own toilets.  After the trip up the mountain and back I stopped back in again and a man was cleaning the floor.  I was a little surprised to see a man in the women's restroom but he said come in so I did .  It always cost money to potty in Mexico.  This one was 5 pesos and then they give you a tissue.  

I needed to wash my hands.  Again we scoop our own water as they was no water from the faucet, but yes there was a huge spider in the sink.  Oh well.

Even as we got out of our car there were butterflies all around.

We hired a horse and a guide to pull the horse.  This is Nicolas.  It is the shortest Mexican man I have seen here.  Most of the people are small and short.  Perhaps he is a midget.  He also had two thumbs on one hand.  He did guide my horse up a steep mountain trail walking at top speed with that heavy jacket on.  He said it does it about twice a day during the butterfly season.

Colorful flowers and colorful butterflies.  They just kept streaming into the valley.  The sky was full of butterflies everywhere we looked.  

I still can't believe I rode a horse for an hour up and an hour back.  Is it really riding a horse if I have a guide  pulling the rope that is attached to the horse all the way?  All I did is hang on...especially going down hill.  

Those are butterflies on the trees. In March they will fly to Canada across the great lakes.  They live about a year.  

The trees seems to be discolored because of the many Monarch butterflies that cover them.  They winter over in Mexico and then fly north in the summer.  

  The air is thick with butterflies.  As we got off the horses and walked further up the mountain it felt like we were in a fairy land with butterflies flying all around us.  

After viewing the butterflies in the upper canyon I bought the two baskets I am holding.  This mujer said that she made them from the tree bark of the surrounding forest.  They have a very strong scent that I noticed as we traversed to the butterfly reserve.  When she told me she made them she also showed me her hands and fingers that were rough from working with the bark.  Her young son (who probably should have been in school) was with her as so many children are with their mothers when they sell their wares.  She was very proud of her baskets, and rightly so.  

We went into the city of Valle de Bravo (Valley of the Brave) after our butterfly adventure for lunch.  There was a lake and a boardwalk with all kinds of restaurants.  We were with the mental health care workers, Bruce and Jody Packard from Arizona.

 The waiter in the background was very friendly.  He had "gone to a Mormon church in another town that he had lived in but had not been to church in this town".  We encouraged him to get back to church and even talk to the missionaries.  We took his number and will pass it on to the Elders.   We ate on a restaurant that was on the water.We could feel the motion of the waves all during dinner and into the night after we got home for me at least.  

Dennis had stuffed trout baked with foil.  That is stuffed with shrimp and octopus.  The trout still had a head with eyes and a tail.

Some views of the marina from the restaurant.

You can see the volcano mountains in the background.  Those mountains are all around the Mexico City area.  I wonder what it was like to be here when Christ died and the earth and the elements were in turmoil.  I do believe this is the Book of Mormon country.  

Visit from Elder Oaks, Elder Clayton, Elder Piper and their wives

We had another General Authority visit on February 16, 2016
This time it was Elder Oaks from  the Quorum of the Twelve and Elder Clayton from the First Quorum of the Seventy and Elder Paul Piper who is in the President of the 4th Quorum of Seventy here in Mexico City.  Elder Piper did not speak this time because he will speak to us in the coming weeks for Tuesday night devotional

It was a a big deal for our CCM to receive General Authorities.  The entry into the Auditorium was repained as well as the front of the adjoining buildings, the post office and the gymnasium.

You can definitely tell where they have painted and where they have not.  This campus is 50 years old.  I hope it has been painted sometime since it was built.  There were even painting during the day  before the general authorities arrived in the afternoon.  It all looks good now.  

The flower beds all have new spring flowers. (Just in time for visiting General Authorities to appreciate them.)  This is right outside the clinic doors.  They always seem to plant and replant on a regular basis.  The beds are beautiful. 

After the devotional with Elder Oaks and his wife and Elder Clayton and his wife speaking the visiting authorities formed a greeting line in front of the podium and all the members of the congregation who wanted to went down and shook hands with the authorities.  That was a lot of hand shaking. After the missionaries shook hands they stepped out outside and formed two lines outside the doors.  As more missionaries went through the passageway of missionaries became longer.  The missionaries sang songs in Spanish until it was time for the general authorities to leave the auditorium.  Then Elder Oaks and Elder Clayton left via the front exit instead of walking through their  human passage way.  It was very nice of Elder Oaks to step outside and thank them for the songs before they exited the front  doors.  I was glad that everything went well for the devotional.  I was asked to get the pianist and the chorister and to get songs for the prelude music.  Dennis was in charge of the choir number.  President Tenorio wanted them to sing the EFY Medley which they did very well.  

I was impressed with the remarks of Sister Oaks.  She has served a mission in Japan and said when she arrived at the MTC it was night time according to her clock and time schedule.  They put her in a class room and started teaching her Japanese.  She asked herself if she could really do this.  She gave some very encouraging words to the missionaries including:

--you have a Heavenly Father who knows each one of you and loves you and will help you.  

--She told the missionaries to stay focused and pray for help.  

--She told them to speak of Jesus Christ.

--She told them to read the B of M each day, then pray and then He will tell you what you should do.

 I appreciated Elder Oaks personal manner as he spoke with the missionaries.  He said:

--I don't love you because I know each one of you personally but I love you for what you have been called to do..

--He talked of miracles and said that seeing a change in people is a greater miracle than having their health restored or restoring sight to them.

--Being a full time missionary is the only time you can really concentrate on strengthening your testimony and sharing the gospel full time so take advantage of it.  He told the missionaries not to be concerned with what is going on at home.  Let others be concerned with that.  We are to concentrate on the mission and our responsibilities here.

--He told us to know who we are.  Don't try to do thing our way.  A mature missionary does things HIS way.  

--He told us to be in working order or in other words be healthy, get enough sleep, and water and exercise.  

--We are to be an instrument in the Lords hands.  He held up a pen as an example of an instrument and said the pen does not write what it wants to, it writes what we, the master wants it to.  

--Do HIS work, HIS way.  

--You are always on a mission even on p-day.

--The missionaries are to teach the importance of keeping commitments. If someone says they will read the B of M or go to church, be disappointed if they don't go or don't read.  Keeping commitments is important.  

--He taught that we should not assume too much,.  If you ask a person to pray about it you should not assume they know how to pray.  Teach them how to pray.  

--He told us that when people ask who we are we should tell them, "I am a follower of Christ.  I seek to keep His commandments-"  Then the discussion can follow when they are asked, "what commandments."

Sister Clayton advised the missionaries to do a little more that they normally would even if it is not their mess,  always help clean it up.  She talked about an experiment she did at her home with her  children.  She dumped out a box of rice krispies in the front entry hall and watched what her children did as they came home from school.  Stories make for good teaching tools.  The missionaries remember her points and also the objective lesson that Elder Oaks presented with his pen.

Elder Clayton:
--You are called to invite people to repent and be baptized
--Invite people to make changes in their lives
----do this by inviting them to make a specific change
----help them keep their commitment by following up with them
----There is spiritual power in keeping commitments.

Sister Hawkins

I received a nice e-mail from Hermana Madi Hawkins on Sunday evening.  I am so glad that she is doing better.  Sometimes I just need a note like this to help be feel better about being here helping these missionaries when I could be home helping my family.

February 16, 2016

madi.hawkins.07@gmail.com

Hola Hermana Harston!

How are you doing?  How are things going in the CCM and in the Clinic?  What is new?  Sorry for all the questions it's all I can think about!  Thank you so much for sending that message from Hermana Larson and those pictures, it was very appreciated! 

I really just want to say thank you.  I have been thinking lots and lots about everything that happened and there is no way I could have done it without you there.  I just keep thinking about my last Sunday there and I was walking into Relief Society and you told me how you knew that this was the day and that everything was going to be ok, and I had felt that exact thing.  But I also really want to say thank you for when I was making the decison to have the pacemaker put in.  I had gone into the bathroom to pray by myself, I told God that I needed to know right than, that I didn't have time to wait for an answer.  I felt peace about getting it done but I still was second guessing somewhat, so I tried to be a little more specific just like President Tenorrio had talked about in one of his classes.  So I told Him, "I think you want me to do this so I'm going to trust that's my answer, but if I get a phone call from my mother telling me not to an hour before I go in, I will take that as I'm not supposed to.  But I just kept telling Him I really need to know right now.  As soon as I walked out of the bathroom you shared with me that you had received this answer that this is exactly what I needed and was supposed to do.  I share this with you because you were the exact answer I needed from God and I can't thank you enough.  I think and pray for you and those back at la CCM every day. 

There is something else you told me over and over again, you alway's told me "You're gonna go on your mission to Yakima, I just know it."  I believed it and than when they sent me home I started to doubt it a little but I want to tell you, I know I'm going to go to Yakima!  I have a feeling the same one that I always felt when I knew the Lord was answering my prayers when those words popped into my ahead along with scriptures in the Book of Mormon, and I know I'm going to Yakima!  Thank you so much for the support and encouragement you always gave me and being in tune with the Spirit because you helped me more than you will know! 

I have my neurological clearance and on March 7th is when the cardiologist is going to check and see if I'm ready to go on to Yakima.  I'm not worried though because I know he'll say I am:)  Until than there is a trio in my home area that is looking for a sister that can go with them during the day's to make it so they can cover more area, I hope to join them within the next week or so.  Thanks again and I'll continue to keep you all in my thoughts and prayers! 

Con mucho amor

Hermana Liz Larson and Hermana Madison Hawkins

Another Email came to Dennis earlier from her mother Jill Hawkins. jillhawkins3@gmail.com

February 4, 2016

Elder Harston, 

This is Jill Hawkins and I though that I would send you an email updating you on Sister Madi Hawkins.  When we picked her up at the airport she was very weak and tired from the long flight but she was able to get home to my sisters house with no problem.  

Sunday was a rough day for her she fainted one time while talking to her home ward bishop.  She was also temporally released so that when she goes to Yakima she will be able to as much time as she can, there serving the Lord.

Monday we had an appointment with a cardiologist to have her looked at, the only thing that he was concerned about was the seizure medication that she was on, he reviewed the chart notes "as well as he could due to the fact that he didn't speak Spanish":) we decided to take her off of the medication because we had noticed that she would get very immediately after taking it, she has not fainted since that Sunday. She improved greatly with not taking the medication.  She was cleared by a neurologist here in Logan that reviewed her records and did a Neurological exam.  So from a Neurological stand point she is cleared.  

She went into the cardiologist Monday as well to remove the sutures, while attempting to remove them he could not get the suture out,  He stated that sometimes the suture will know around the leads, so we took her to a sterile room and under guidance of fluro guidance he was able to remove the suture that had indeed knotted around one of the leads.  He did have to re-open a small part of the incision at the very end of the opening, she was then interrogated by a Biotronix representative and he and Dr,. Saul agreed to lower the setting on her pacemaker due to the fact that it was programmed at a very strong rate, more a a congestive heart failure.  After we left she has begun to improve physically very quickly with more and more energy and more color in her everyday activities. 

The cardiologist is saying that she is healing very well and could possibily get a clearance by the end of the month so that she can continue on with her serving the Lord in Yakima.  She is very very determined to get back out preaching the gospel.  

I just wanted to express to you, Hermana Harston my deepest thought of gratitude.  You went above and beyond during those very important times in Madi's recovery and diagnosis.  I feel like the Lord truly blessed Madi in your loving hands.  After reviewing all of the tests I know that the pacemaker was defiantly something that was needed and saved her life.  I remember talking with Hermana Harston right before Madi was to have surgery and she told me of an experience of her praying and getting an answer very clear that this is what Madi needed.  She also said that after she was able to look at the Holter tests that there was no question whether  or not she needed a pacemaker, I agree 100%.

I just wanted to again express my sincere thanks, gratitude and love for you both and the many many others that were looking after and taking good xcare of her during those weeks in Mexico.  

May the Lord bless you,  

Sincerely, Jill Hawkins.  

old 4th of July photos

Impromptu singing of the national anthem on the 4th of July.  Someone put an American flag on the drink dispenser.  This was when we were eating in the George Albert Smith building while the comodor was being remolded

Elders showing their loyalty to the United States by wearing two ties, one red and another blue.  

spicy salsa on everything for the Latinos vs already too spicy for that Hermana

When I told this Latino Elder that I wanted a picture of him pouring the hot sauce on his Costco pizza everyone crowded around to get in the act.  They put it on everything from fruit to meat and everything in between.  

In contrast at the other end of the table was a Hermana who ate the pizza plain and immediately because it is so fatty and spicy (and because she had her gall bladder removed at age 14 and because her medication was not working) was in pain.  I was so glad I happened to be standing there talking to her piano playing companion because this gall bladder absent hermana's stomach bloated up in minutes and she literally looked like she was 7 months pregnant.  She is very thin anyway but was in a tremendous amount of pain.  She said,"I have to get to the clinic".  I told her my husband was starting coir practice in 5 minutes and was not at the clinic.  I offered to take her in the golf cart but she couldn't wait and headed out walking.  I caught up with her at the auditorium talking to Dennis and he asked if I would help her to the clinic and he would come over shortly.  He must have gotten another choir director and came right away.  He helped her with a pain pill and the Elders in her district came in to give her a blessing.  The first one they had ever given.  It is so nice they have their little white missionary handbook and oil with them.  After choir practice Dennis came running (literally running) back to the clinic and she was doing a little better (the extreme bloating had started to go down).  She ended up leaving just before the Tuesday night devotional started in a wheel chair and was even able to sing in the choir.  She and her companions have wonderful voices.   

In the devotional one Hermana ran out of the auditorium and her two companions following in close pursuit.  I had come late because I was closing up the clinic after the sick bloated Hermana and sat in the back.  When I saw the three Hermanas run outside I thought I better see if they needed help.  From the stand President Call sent Dennis a text message and told him about the Hermanas.  Dennis was sitting in the middle of the Auditorium where he sometimes leads the choir but read the message and came to see what was going on.  It is always just one thing after another.  The Elder who had his appendices out now has a temperature of 102 and has gastrointestinal problems.  And then there is the other Elder who at a high point weighted 180 and now weights 135.  Dennis sent him in for lab tests.  He didn't loose all that weight here but over the last several months.  He will probably have to go home and have more tests to find out what is causing the weight loss and gastrointestinal problems.

I wonder what it will be like when we have 600 here this summer instead of the 250-300 we have right now.  

Dennis was called back as a counselor

Today Dennis was called to serve as 1st counselor in Rama 11. He was released as counselor from Rama 6 a few months ago because the census at the CCM dropped. This seems to be somewhat fluid depending on how many missionaries are here

When he was set apart I was delighted about one thing President Zirger (an American working for the FBI here in Mexico) told him. He said, "the Lord will watch over your family while you are serving a mission here."

Yea blessings for my family!

Nancy's wedding at the farm house Nancy Ramirez Cruz and Ferando Martinez Tenorio

Nancy's bridal party

Nicely decorated tables

Nice dress from the back

This is the way they do the civil ceremony.  Nancy was previously married and so was Fernando.  The ceremony was civil with hopes for a temple sealing in a year after heir temple divorce is final.

Mosiah, the male nurse at the clinic and his family.

Citrus from the farm house.

The farm house, existing property, class rooms, dorms and out building such as the green house above are used for educating returned missionaries on how to establish their own business.  They raise produce, in this case tomatoes in those bags.  They learn how to have the tomatoes grow up the vines or ropes that are hanging down and then they sell the produce.  There are only about 30 missionaries in the academy of business at a time, taking a course that last a couple of months.  They takes business classes and engage in practical experience.  Seventy percent of the RM's are successful in business and then go on to bless their families instead of returning to the sometimes poverty or near poverty conditions they came from.  

Appendectomy the third

Elder Corey from Oregon.  This is our third appendectomy in the 8 months we have been here.  All have been Elders.  I don't know why the Hermanas and the Latinos don't seem to need appendectomies. He is a good sport even thought it will be three days before he can eat.  He has been throwing-up and then the tests and then the surgery.  Yes, he had liquids just not food for three days.

Dennis in his office at the CCM

p-day to an amazing library and Russian cafe

On the way to the library we saw this old amazing central plaza

With lots of tile and paint work, it reminds me of a large gazebo

A photo spot

A fun Russian cafe across from the park.  A bowl of hot borsch for me.  I asked for no cream and look what I got.  

The bread was delicious.  We bought a whole loaf from their bakery.

This is the Vasconcelos library.  It is ranked as one of the most amazing 18 libraries of world.  It is a block long and about 5 stories high.  

This giant reptile structure hangs suspended  from the ceiling

And yes the book shelves also hang suspended from the ceiling as well.  It is just a little eerie to lean over and take pictures from the railing.   

the move to the houses from the dormitory

We have been in casa #12 for about a month now.  The dormitories are being remolded.  When they are finished we will move back into the dorm.  The dorms room are small and we are only 2 people.  The houses can fit 20 missionaries.  In the summer when our numbers swell we will probably have to move back.  

I love having a piano.l

The kitchen and the cook

one of the 5 bedrooms.  

Each bedroom has a bathroom

Our bedroom.  They moved the bunk beds into room #4 for storage as we brought our furniture from the dorm to the casa

Room 5 has a study area that Dennis is utilizing.