Val Christensen and Ian McCracken visit

Val Christensen and Ian McCracken from Salt Lake were in Mexico to visit an orphanage in Tuxtla, Mexico.  It is called La Casa Alegre or the House of Joy.  Val helps to keep the orphanage going.  It is for abused and abandoned children.  There are about 100 children there.  Mama Liz started the orphanage and Val helps a great deal.  Val and Ian took youth down to help do some painting and take care of the children. They stopped in Mexico City on their way back.

We picked Val and Ian up from the airport and then went to the temple.  Ian gave me a name to take through.  

They stayed at our casa #12 on Thursday night and on Friday before we took them back to the airport we visited some sites downtown.  We stopped at a street market and I bought Mexican dolls for each of my granddaughters.  

We stopped at the site of reconstruction of the Aztec Templo Mayor It was build around 1300 and has been destroyed and rebuilt bigger 6 times.  The monument spire right in the middle ( in the model below) is dedicated to Quetzalcoatl who at that time was called the God of Wisdom.  Quetzalcoatl started out to be the great white God , or Jesus Christ but was convoluted as the years went on.   

This is a model of what the Templo Mayor used to look like in its height of glory.  

We stopped at the old post office with Ian and Val.  It is a beautiful old brass and marble building but odd enough it is not automated and from the stair case above we see that they are still hand processing the mail and delivering it via bicycles in the city.  No wonder Jenny's Christmas card to us took over three months to get here.  Oh well we are enjoying the card and family pictures now and at least it did arrive.  

Los Torrez were in charge of FHE the Monday after conference.  They went out of the CCM and purchased tamales and Mexican sweet bread for all of us.  

Papaya from the local neighborhood markets.