Latinoamericana tower in Mexico City P-Day May 27, 2016

We were able to go downtown for p-day.  We ate lunch at the Latinoamericana Tower.  We were on the 44th floor at the restaurant called Mirador. It would have been even better if the pollution was not a problem in Mexico City.

Our dinner at the Mirador Torre Restaurant.  Hermana Call on the phone.

A little hazy as usual but the city goes on for miles with millions of people

We stopped in to see this art museum that use to be the home of Count San Carlos.  Those where the days when the wealthy were really wealthy and the poor were really poor.

Then into a museum that also used to be the palace of a president.  The current display was of women's clothing through the years.  This skirt that is wrapped up between the legs is the idea behind "gird up your loins" in the bible context.

They love their cactus look even in a skirt.  They also used to be thinner than most women are now.  

Hermana Hubler in hospital

Two days and two nights in the hospital for a possible appendicitis. Fortunately the results were negative. But it also requires a companion exchange every twelve hours and a visit from the president and two visits from us plus transportation to and from. I am just glad that she didn't have to stay or have surgery. 

On the way home from the hospital we had our car windshield washed, not because we want it done and despite the fact that we tried to wave him off.  If you are stopped for long at the light you get washed and then they expect to be paid.  

Parking is double decked at the Superama.  In a city of 24 million parking is tight

Always balloons for sale on the corners by the hospital.  This man was in the process of blowing up more.  Also always lots of little shops along the sidewalk selling what ever people will buy.  

Hermana Almache-- Los Angeles--Ecudaor staying in Mexico to teach the gospel

Hermana Del Angel and Hermana Almache

When Dennis and I went to immigration of Friday to renew our visas I visited with Hermana Almache.  I am so impressed with her desire to serve a mission.  Her father lived in Ecuador with his family.  His father, Hermana Almache's grandfather was active in the church.  He offered to pay for his son who was rebellious and not active in the church to to go to the United States.  The son went but left the church behind and had a very rough life.  He lived with a woman and finally married another woman.  Hermana Almache's father was sent to prison for abusive behaviors toward his family members.  She was introduced to the church when she was 16 and wanted to be baptized, because her father was in prison she didn't have to have his permission.  He would not have allowed it.  Her mother did not want her to serve a mission and is not interested in the church.  She feels like she does not have the background that other missionaries do but that she will have a good understanding of what investigators may be thinking and feeling.  She has  had a lot of trials in her life and not too much support for church activity but she has made the decision that she wants to serve a mission and tell other people about the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  She is from Los Angeles where 40% of the people speak Spanish.  She did say when she went to the temple the other day here in Mexico that she felt the comfort and support of her grandfather who had been a temple worker and who died a month ago.  I know that we do have support and help from our loved ones who have gone passed away.  She will be an excellent missionary and will have much to offer.

Hermana Dyer (Kassidy Michaela)

Hermana Dyer performing in Branson where her father has his own show, The George Dyer Show.  

Dennis told me when she first came that she was a performer and that her father had his own show in Branson, Missouri so I was hoping that she would want to sing a musical number.  finally last Tuesday she asked about doing a special musical number.  I was surprised that my first response (without thinking) was, "I have been waiting for you to ask".  I wonder if our Heavenly Father wants us to use our agency and he doesn't push us into doing things but does make a way possible if we want to doing something he will help us.  She will sing "There is a Green Hill Far Away, tomorrow at our Sunday devotional.  

Immigration today to renew visa

We rode the CCM bus downtown today for a 5 hour venture with 27 other missionaries to renew our visa. We have been here about a year and so it is time to get a new visa that will last another year. Our driver was very nice to take us on a tour after we were through. He drove by several sites and paused while we took pictures and he even explained to us what we were seeing. I don't think that is the custom but this was a bus full of foreigners and he loves his country and we teach the drivers English each week so I think he was being extra kind. 

This is another one of those unusual districts. It started with 5 elders and 1 sister. One of the elders went home the first week because of unresolved transgressions. (We must have a righteous missionary force).  One other time we had a district with only one elder but this time it is a district with just one Hermana. 

Sweet sisters

Hermanas Van Wagenen and Roberts

These are just some of the very special hermanas that go through the the CCM. Hermana Van Wagenen had bells palsey as a young child and it destroyed the nerves in one side of her face. She is an amazing sister despite the fact that her smile is a little crooked. 

p-day to the temple

We had a nice p-day this week.  We couldn't get a car until the afternoon (but I am so glad that we are able to sign up for a car and usually get one when we need it without having to hire a taxi or have our own car).  We went to the temple and because of traffic could not get there until 3:00 so we did sealing of families for 2 hours.  It was wonderful and I felt like we helped many people on the other side of the veil. We then went grocery shopping and to dinner at Chile's .  When we got home I listened to a conference talk by Elder Russel M. Nelson who spoke about a personal experience he had had  when two sisters came to him from the other side of the veil.  He said he could not see them physically but he felt their presence and he heard their spiritual pleading.  They said.  "Brother Nelson, we are not sealed to anyone! Can you help us?  These were two sisters he had operated on as a young heart surgeon who had both died.  He told the story of how he went to their 88 year old father and on his knees asked him to prepare himself to go to the temple to be sealed with his deceased wife and then be sealed as a couple to their children.  This man had never been to the temple, but he agreed to do this and with the help of many people including his bishop and stake president and over much time at last President Nelson went to the temple with him and then performed the necessary ordinances for the two sisters and their younger brother. They are now a together family for eternity.  Families can be together forever but the  earthly ordinances must be performed in the temple. I was glad to be able to help in the temple with some families.  I hope our missionaries have a vision of the temple in mind when they teach non members of the church.  This is the purpose they serve...to bring people and families to the temple to make covenants with God.

Mothers Day

Mothers day in the United States in on the second Sunday of May and in Mexico it is always on the 19th of May.  We helped all the North American's call home on Sunday.  There are always a lot of problems getting the calls working just right with headsets and microphones.  But in the end everyone did call.  I let one Hermana use my private phone and Dennis let one use his CCM phone because they couldn't get the headset to work.  There are lots of tears when missionaries call home so I passed out tissues as well.  One Hermana didn't use her full 30 minutes and was through faster than the others.  When I asked her how her mother was doing she said she was home from the hospital but not breathing well so she didn't want to talk to her long.  When this hermana arrived it was a little unusual because we have them all email home and let their parents know they arrived safely at the CCM.  She asked if she could call because her parents didn't have email.  We let her call.  I asked a little more about her situation and she said here mother has a heart condition that put her into the hospital frequently.  Her father is an electrician and was electrocuted and also has a heart condition.  When she was about 15 or 16 she left Samoa and went to Honolulu to work to help pay for her parents medical bills.  She worked at grocery store and her check went into a direct deposit to pay for her mothers hospital bill.  He worked other jobs while still going to school and sent her father money for his bills.  As a teenager alone in Honolulu she graduated from high school, worked to pay the bills and then started college classes.  She said she was not doing real well paying for things on her own so she asked her brother who was still in Samoa to come and live with her. He did and that helped with the money situation.  Her brother has conflict with their father so the brother  worked and and helped pay the rent and she could still sent money to their parents.  She basically grew up on her own but when her brother came he told her how to comb her hair and even braided it for her.  She is now on a mission for the next 18 months and will then go back to Hawaii and continue with school and work and paying her family bills.  An amazing Hermana!


Mothers Day restaurant for all the senior missionaries.  Thanks goodness Sister Tenoria said, "No" the Hermanas will not cook their own dinner to celebrate Mother's Day.  We will go to a restaurant!

President Tenorio and Rosa notice the cinnamon covered roasted pineapple.

President Call and Janet 1st Counselor

President Lyons and Patty 2nd Counselor

Executive secretary Elder Ruvalcaba and Patty

Director of all the CCM Shawn and Nadie Cates

Dr and Hermana Montoya

Elder Bruce and Jody Packard Mental health dept.

Elder James Torrez and Doranelle Latino mental Health

Carlos Zapata Director of operation CCM His wife was in Houston with a daughter who was expecting a new baby.

A nicely packaged rose from Sister Tenorio

All the meat you ever wanted to eat.  It was nice they had a buffet line as well with other options

The mothers of the CCM

Querataro with the Machados, Calls and Packards

We took a P-day adventure to the city of Querataro just a 2-3 hours drive to the north of Mexico City. It is only 63 miles but with traffic 2+ hours.  President and Sister Machado who work with the Packards in district 12 wanted us to go with them on this outing because they love the city.  On the way there we stopped at a favorite restaurant of their called Santigago.  It is famous for barbacoa which is lamb cooked in palm leaves.  That is supposed to make it very moist. Many venders were selling lamb skins outside the restaurant, so we could eat the lamb and get the lamb skin too.

The restaurant was very crowded as it is a very popular place.  I was glad to see that there were a lot of families there and a lot of celebrations.  Sister Machado was not shy about taking out a can of Lysol disinfectant and spraying down the table and wiping it off before we ate.  

I though of Chad while eating here because this was our total brunch.  It was about 10:30--11:00 in the morning, two big  plates of chopped lamb, with con tortillas and limes or salsa to put on it.  You are supposed to wrap your meat in the corn tortilla and chow down.  Oh, but before they brought the meat out they severed us corn tortillas with cheese on top like the one in the middle of the table.  Also for an appetizer were the rounds of bread with cheese on them like the one behind my water bottle.  That is it!  Meat and Cheese and corn!  

I walked back to the restrooms and on the way I saw where they had an extended kitchen into the restaurant.  There were 14 people making tortillas and on the chopping blocks the men are cutting up the lamb.  

The restaurant owner wanted to please us so he brought out a plate that had the lamb neck on it because he said it was very moist.  That is the spinal cord you can see as well.  I was full from the other food I had just eaten so I didn't try any of it. But Dennis loves it and frequently orders barbacoa when we eat out.  

Into the city of Querataro we walked and saw this image of a native Mexican.  I wondered if those were supposed to be peacock or Quetzalcoatl feathers.  The Quetzalcoatl is a prized bird with very long tail feathers.  It is also the name of Christ, the Great White God. This statue in the middle of the fountain is a native warrior at one of the  battles.  

The Quetzalcoatl bird

We took a "torri bus" ride and went to this city plaza.  We got out and went inside this church but the convent next door was not part of the tour.  Inside the convent is a tree that has cross shaped thrones covering it.  The markets outside the plaza sell the cross shaped thrones and so the Machado's bought each of us a little bottle that had a throne in it.  

The dolls are very traditional in Mexico.

This woman was sewing the dolls in the back and selling them in the front.  It was interesting to see the doll parts before they are sewn together.  

Fountains and more fountains in all Querataro and Mexico City

This aqueduct was build in the beginning of the 17th century by the wealthiest man in Querataro and it served to bring water into the city from a near by spring.  It is over a mile long and has 74 arches.  It is almost 100 feet tall. Taken from the top of Torri Bus

Always nicely groomed trees in Mexico.  A plaza in Querataro

Querataro has an independence hall of sorts. In it is this large stone monument.  It is indicative of what is one their flag, an eagle with a rattle snake in his claws and beak sitting on a cactus.  

Also in the Independence Hall is this stone picture.  In the middle is Benito Juarez who was the indigenous president. He followed the reign of Emperor Maximilian and his wife Charlotte who are shown to Benito's right.  Maximilian was brought in to govern Mexico even though he was an archduke of Austria.  The Machados told us that the Mexican government felt like they could not govern Mexico and so brought him in.  Then the people rose up with Benito Juarez as a leader and wanted to govern themselves so Maximilian went before a firing squad along with his generals and was killed in 1867 there in Querataro.  The sign reads something to the effect of, killed not because of a dislike of the man but for the idea of outsiders governing the country.  

This picture in the bottom of the mural depicts the oppressed people of Mexico.  I hope she is looking to God to help her as they have been ousted from their burning city in the background.  

After touring the city and stopping at a fun ice cream store The Machado's took us to a hacienda for dinner.  There are a lot of old farms or ranches that have been turned into restaurants.  This one is named Las Laureles and is just outside of Queratoro.  Of course there was was a mariachi band to provide entertainment

Eating outside in the plaza of the hacienda.  Sister Machado is a very lovely lady, well educated and a missionary at heart.  Again we had more meat, unless it was me, I had mushroom soup and Dennis had a lettuce salad which proved to be upsetting in the tummy later.  

In the plaza of the Las Laureles Hacienda

Birthday dinner for President Machado

President and Sister Jose Antonio Machado invited us to go to dinner with them for his birthday.  Also the Packard's and the Call's went.  They took us to a restaurant and dinner show at the La Fonda del Recuerdo.-  It is the translated to mean The Inn of Remembrances.  The Machado's have been many time to that restaurant for special occasions.  All of their children live in the United States and he was an only child so they have no family in Mexico except her family.  We went with them to Querataro last week and she invited us to come with her on the following Thursday to celebrate the birthday.  She also gave us Hermanas a shawl to wear in the evening.  I have a feeling that it is very important for women to wear a light weight wrap or shawl at night because when Hermana Call and I dressed up in traditional costume on their Independence Day in September and went to the evening devotional Sister Tenorio made sure we each had a wrap to wear, despite the fact that it was warm.

This was the second course. Aztec soup.  I usually get it because it has no meat.  However this version had a lot of cheese and always the tortilla strips in a tomato base and veggie soup.

That was after the appetizer of an cheese flat bread and an empanada that was stuffed with cheese.

And of course when we first sit down they bring us out fried corn chips with lots of different salsas.

Sister Machado had pre-ordered our dinner.  I told her I would like fish instead of the beef.  I was delighted it came with some steamed peppers.  My first drink was tamarind juice, or at least a drink they make from the tamarind seed. I see the  seed at the neighborhood markets. 

Dennis had beef prepared in the arranchera style which is cut very think and grilled.  Everyone else had it as well and they said that it is particularly tender.  

We had the best table of the house (which they had reserved well in advance) directly in front of the stage.  And the Mariachi Band came to our table and play for us after the show.  I did see Sister Machado slip them a wad of money afterward that looked like it was at least 400 or 500 pesos or about $30 or $40.  Check out the size of that large guitar it is a traditional Mariachi band instrument with a rounder back.  There was also another smaller guitar and a harp.  

The show included several traditional Mexican dances.  The man in this dance attended Benemerito and so the Machados knew him.  Sister Machado was a secretary at the school  when she was 15 years old.  At the age of 12 her mother told her she had enough school and she would need to learn to become a secretary.  She looked older than her age and was hired to be the secretary for the president of the school at 15.  Her husband was a student here and that is where they met.  The Benemerito school blessed the lives of many students both latter-day saints and non members for 50 years.  Sister Machado later went on to become an attorney and her husband studied chemical engineering and worked for the largest gas company in Mexico, Pemex. He is now retired and they are planning to move to the United States where their children live.