visiting Pachuca and Real Del Monte

A bakery in the town of Real Del Monte.  This is a picture of the oven.  We bought some of her bread and she showed us her oven.  The oven is heated by propane and is probably about 12 feet in diameter.  They use a paddle about 12 feet long to put the bread in and take it back out.again. Some places in the oven are hotter than others. The big bags of open flour were sitting on a table in the big baking room and there were also pounds of butter wrapped in paper and sitting on the floor in the baking and preparing room.


This is the home of Carlos and Sylvia Zapata in Pachuca What a fun loft for grand children.  There are three beds up there.

Carlos and Sylvia ]Zapata

The Beechers, Sister Torres, Sylvia, me, Brother Torres and Carlos in their charming kitchen.  There house is an hour drive from his work at the CCM. The other day when he had to be on the stand for the devotional she came down by bus.  He drove her back home and then he got up the next morning at 4:30 AM and drove back down so he could get back to work on time.   She was also here so they could interview for the director of the CCM position that Brother Cates will be giving up in a year.

stylized trees with typical white rocks

Cute tree house we saw by the gas station.  Many of the trees here are trimmed in some shape.

English class and cafeteria

Dennis and I taught the CCM drivers our English class again today.  The drivers pick up new missionaries from the airport, drive missionaries to the temple visitors center on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays, drive missionaries downtown into the heart of Mexico City for visa fingerprinting, and then drive them back to the airport again when they leave. They probably drive other times as well I just don't know about that.  

The man in blue in front does's know much English yet and the driver in orange knows a lot. That makes it a little more difficult for us.   Brother Soronno, in orange picked us up.  They always wear dark suits with name badges when they drive and they look very professional, but at our class they are quite light-hearted.   Sheila is a sectary and knows about average for our beginner class.  Today we learned prepositions.  I had pictures illustrating over, under on, in, below, etc.  After we talked about those I got out a ball and a box and had them come up one at a time and ask the members of the class, "Where is the ball?" and then they would hold the ball wherever they wanted to.  The others answered, "The ball is__________the box."  Then we played bingo with an illustrated card  I made about the prepositions.  When they had that down pretty well I had bingo cards with the writing only of prepositions.  They each had a package of M&M's as bingo chips. I'm sure they liked the candy.  Next week we will follow up on prepositions.  Dennis took the last 20 minutes of our hour class with his things.   It is really important that these drives speak some English as they are the first CCM contact in Mexico with North American missionaries.  We also reviewed from last week when they were learning basic greeting phrases.

Our new comodor is really nice.  Hermana Lucas in the yellow blouse

was sick enough on Monday that we sent her to the emergency room.  Her companion in the yellow skirt was so kind and compassionate. Of course she had to go also to be with Hermana Lucas.  The only problem came when they returned with lab work that said she had typhoid.  Of course she didn't have typhoid but she was very recently was immunized for typhoid  which skewed her lab results.  She didn't know that she didn't really have typhoid fever and when she told her Latino roommates that she had typhoid they were scared to death and wondered what kind of place they were living in where a missionary could get typhoid.  Dennis had to call and tell Hermana Lucas that she didn't really have typhoid.  It is good to see her eating well again after several days.

That is Nutella in the big white bucket.  The comodor staff finally decided that the little jars which actually were not little but they just were not as big as the buckets are, just weren't working.  This is an evening meal.  The big entree meal is always served at noon.  The Nutella is out at breakfast and in the evening.  The missionaries really go through it.  

Elder Cruz in our branch/rama is from Brazil.  His father is a member of the 4th quorum of seventy. His district of 8 missionaries all came in speaking on an intermediate level so they were put together with teachers who can teach on an accelerated level.  He is eating a Nutella sandwich for dinner, plus his beans and rice and lettuce.  Elder Fitt next to him was also one sick Elder.  His great big companion practically had to carry him into their casa after they had been to the clinic on Monday.  I had to pick them up and drop them off using the golf cart because Elder Fitt was too sick to walk to the clinic. It is good to see Elder Fitt smiling again.  He just stepped into the picture when he saw me taking it.  The hermana/companion with red hair was such a great support for Sister Lucas.

stress

Wow today was quite the day. (actually this was a few weeks ago by now and that particular Elder with much prayer and working things out is doing better)   I was at the clinic early working because we had no internet connection at our apartment so I was working on my computer at the clinic.  Then the internet actually was not working there either.  I finally had to go to the Joseph Smith building to print off my document.    An elder came in with his companion because he was having a serious panic attack.  Evidently he had one yesterday as well.  I have learned that the first week is critical in the missionaries 6 weeks of training here.  This is a new life style and and new role in life for most of the missionaries.  With that major life change comes some stress and pressure to learn the language and teach investigators.  Every missionary reacts different to stress depending on their past life and how they deal with change.

 A panic attack is a very real way of dealing with stress. It can vary from depression, to crying, to shaking so bad that the elder can't hold his scriptures and turn the pages.  I have seen one come in walking stiff legged with a totally blank face who ended up curled up on the bed in a fetal position and breathing so rapidly that we though he might pass out. I hope we can help these elders and hermanas deal with the difficulty of mission life and prepare them for the rest of their mission.  Our mental health care workers, Elder and Sister Beecher are a good sounding board and President Call is good to help the North American Missionaries.  I imagine President Tenorio helps the Latino missionaries.  By the second week they are usually able to catch their breath and settle into a study and presentation schedule unless of course they have to take anxiety medication to help with the process.  I have only seen two anxiety attacks in the 7 weeks I have been here but sister Gill has counted 14 in her 18 month mission.  The Gill's leave next week.

48 new missionaries

I love Wednesdays when new North Americans come in.  We had 48 this time. Quite a few of them play the piano and two are nurses who Dennis will train for their field work.  They will be missionaries but their primary role will be as nurses.  I believe both are going to Ecuador.   

No rain this Wednesday we can be grateful for that. 

I hope my grandsons are doing this same thing shortly.   

The old missionaries who have been here for more that a week or so are escorting the new Elders and their luggage to their casa.   

elbow bumps vs. handshaking

This was one sick Hermana.  We saw her on a house call throwing up at 10:30 on Sunday night.  She had a wonderful companion helping her for two solid days doing the dirty work of cleaning up after her and caring for her.  There were many wonderful companions that were angels to their sick companions.  The tall elder below was also sick and his companion stayed right by his side.  

We are doing elbow bumps right now instead of handshakes.  These elders are ushers at the devotional and they shake as many hands as they can when missionaries come through the doors.  Several of them were sick yesterday on Monday after all the devotionals, video meetings and presidency meetings we have on Sunday in the auditorium. We have to remind everyone often that we are not shaking hands right now or it seems easy to fall back into the regular mode.