October 31, 2016

October 31, 2016

Hi everybody!  I am very excited to report that we now have internet!!  Yaaaay.   But believe me it wasn’t easy to get it.    It took 4 trips to internet provider and one month, but they finally came last Saturday to hook us up and it wasn’t too soon.  We have so much going on here and it’s been frustrating to not be able to do research, training, etc. on the internet, so life just got a little easier for us.

And we are also very excited to report that we have had our first gardening class with each of the branches and the people are very excited to get their gardens started.  We had a total of 30 people come to the classes where Dad taught them some basics to gardening first and then we took them out to the garden that we have going and that really got them interested.  As I told you before, the church has property behind the chapel that in years past has been used as a soccer field but has just become an eyesore with trash and weeds over the entire lot and is now available to be “subdivided” to the families who want to grow fruits and veggies.  So a man at one of the classes decided that very night to get his garden started and began working the ground to get it ready!

At the same time the gardening classes were announced in each branch we invited them to come to any or all of the classes offered by the Self Reliance program, which are How to Start a Business, How to find Employment, and How to further your Education, plus gardening and English classes, which are classes President Avila asked us to do also.  The response was amazing!  We had 30 people sign up for gardening, about 20 for English, and 24 for the business class.  Plus one of the branch presidents and our mission president asked if I would teach cooking classes also.  Cheech!  It’s as though they are living in a vacuum here and are just anxious to soak in knowledge.  Actually, we think that they are anxious to learn how to get themselves out of the ruts they’re in because of the poverty, which is a really good sign In addition to these classes, the same branch president asked us if we would teach the youth this Friday night at their Youth Conference something…anything!  Actually he asked if Dad would teach the boys something they would learn in Boy Scouts, if they had that program, so he’s going to teach them how to make and use a sling, which he has taught to other boys many times, and knot tying.  He wanted me to teach the girls something about cooking.   You have to remember that these two branches had a total of about 100 people in attendance last Sunday, so we are very happy with how many want to learn.  So, boys and girls, we have our work cut out for us, at least for the next 3 months, because the classes are designed to last 12 weeks each.  It’s awesome…we’re lovin’ it.  I had always hoped that we could serve a mission somewhere in this world where we could have a meaningful impact on someone’s life…I think we have found that place.

Our two elders who live above us stopped by our apartment the other night to just check in after being gone for a couple of days doing splits in another town.  One of the elders had an interesting story to tell.  While he and his comp were teaching an investigator in his home the man asked a question and while Elder Arias was pondering the question he looked up toward the ceiling and there above them on exposed rafters was a snake!  Apparently everyone in the house freaked out and the man got out his machete and made mincemeat out of that snake.  Oh my gosh!  I have to admit that I’m constantly on edge wondering what critter is going to make its presence known in our house.  I open cupboards and doors cautiously.  Every morning I sweep up about 5 or 6 great big black crickets that walk across some of my bug spray that I spray every night!  Yes, I’m paranoid. 

Anyway, we love these elders.  They are so cute.  One is from Peru and the other from Costa Rica and they are trying to learn English, so I speak my basic Spanish to them and they speak their basic English to me and we’re all learning.  Our elders are the Zone Leaders so we get to have elders from outlying towns come here occasionally for training meetings and we love being around them all.  Such awesome young men.  Dad usually sends them home with a bottle of soda or bag of chips and they love it.  Speaking of our missionaries, they are all just as poor as the rest of the people in this country, well, the Latinos are.  Anyway, they wash their clothes at our house every week and one week I got their clothes out of the dryer and was kind of folding them and noticed that their clothes are in TERRIBLE condition.  The collars are mostly worn out, their pants are threadbare, rips here and there, noticeable stains that don’t wash out, and they have no money to replace them.  Dad and I have looked in every store we pass and in the Mercado for white shirts to buy them, but we haven’t been able to find any.  And then we started noticing the other elders’ clothes and theirs are just as bad.  It’s sad and makes us feel bad for them.  We were wondering if any of you would consider contributing funds that could be used by our mission president to purchase some white shirts for the elders.  We know that money is always tight, and if this is not possible for any of you, we know you would if you could.  Just a thought…

So my last story is kind of funny.  One day last week Dad was in the shower and he yells at me to bring him the bucket of water from the patio where he had put it under the AC unit to capture the water that drips constantly from condensation from the AC, which he wanted to use it to test something in the garden soil because it’s pure and distilled water.  Apparently the water in the shower decided to just stop while he was covered with soap and all he could think of to do was use the water in the bucket to rinse himself!  I was quietly saying a thank you prayer that it didn’t happen to me!  Lo and behold all of the water in the whole house was off and we found out a little while later that our holding tank on the roof was indeed empty.  We had no idea that there was a tank on the roof.  So we had to get the manager over here yet again to pump water from the building’s cistern into our tank.  But he also told us that the entire town was experiencing a water shortage and it would be that way until next spring when the rainy season begins again.  So, we now have 3 buckets to capture the AC condensation (which Dad assures me is pure and distilled water) to use so we don’t run out of water again.  Since we only have hot water going directly to the shower I always have to boil water to wash dishes anyway, so now I use the AC water for that, and to mop our floors, and to flush the toilet (occasionally), and for washing clothes (Holli, does this remind you of someone else…I really dislike the thought of that!).  Hey it works!  And you know what…we are really glad that we have this water to use because we’re thinking that we probably do use more water than most people here because we bathe daily and wash clothes more often, which most of them do not do.  What’s could be next????

We are busy, we are happy, and we have been blessed greatly.  We love what we’re doing here.  As I was studying the Book of Mormon the other day I came across this quote from Elder Maxwell, “Are we willing to let the Lord lead us into further developmental experiences? Or do we shrink back?  The things that enlarge the soul inevitably involve stretching.”  We are being stretched, but we are happy to have this experience because to do hard things we have to rely on the Lord’s help, and that enlarges the soul.

We pray for you and your families and hope that you all are happy too.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Non and Pop

October 25, 2016

A couple of photos for you all.  The bottom two are of the garden, the other two are of our kitchen and view from the living area.  We have tons of windows in our apartment and they all have similar views....just walls.  We are the only apartment on the bottom floor and we have tall walls around the whole perimeter of the building, so our apartment is basically the security for all the other apartments above us.

 

 

October 24, 2016

October 24, 2016

Hola Family,

We are alive and well in Pinotepa…however, sometimes we think we died and went to hell!  Just kidding.  It is so stinkin hot and humid here it makes me appreciate the Arizona “dry” heat, ha ha.  Just kidding, again.

So, speaking of hot and humid last Friday morning about 3:00 a.m. our power went off, including, of course, the air conditioner in our bedroom.  I just assumed that Dad got cold and turned it off, but nooooooo, our power really was off.  And then again we just assumed that everyone’s power went off as it did in Guatemala occasionally, so we didn’t really worry too much about it.  However, at about 2:00 that afternoon when it had not resumed we went over to the managers and told them about it and they said they would call the electricians.  Well, this is Mexico, and of course we saw no electricians that afternoon and so we sweated through the night.  Opening windows was not an option because of all the critters and mosquitos that could/would come through the windows (no screens of course), but we got to the point that we had to open them for a while.  We even resorted to fanning ourselves with our plastic plates...hey, it worked!  I got the giggles at the sight of Dad, of all people, fanning himself furiously to get cool and I couldn't stop giggling!!!  I guess we haven't lost our sense of humor.  Dad said that when he sweated enough to get his undies wet, it cooled him off and he was able to go to sleep!  Saturday no electrician so Dad went to the managers again about 4:00 and he told Dad he had called the electricians and there was nothing else he could do…well, Dad (if you can believe it) made a stink about losing all the food in the refrigerator, talked with an administrator, who told the first guy to call the owner, who told him that he better get the electrician out to fix the power that night!  So, about 7:00 that night we finally had lights and AC.  Apparently, when the AC units were installed it was done improperly (surprise!) and it burned up the meter box, etc.  So, the bottom line of the story is I declare that we passed the NO AC FOR A DAY AND A HALF TEST!!!  If you pass the test once you don’t have to repeat it, right?

And speaking of critters, when we were in Cuernavaca last weekend we spoke with some of the elders who had been assigned to get our apartment clean and ready for us, who told us they found two tarantulas, a scorpion, an iguana, and bats in our apartment, mingled with various and sundry spiders/bugs/mosquitoes, etc.  So, don’t wonder why I didn’t want to open the windows during our power outage.

So, that’s the bad news, I guess.  We have some fun and awesome news.  We were at the garden one day last week and the branch president and an architect showed up to try to get the well cleaned out and operational.  We talked with them about running a line from the well, clear across the soccer field to our garden area and we think it’s going to happen.  They had one of the workers with them dig to find the line that leads from the well to the chapel and they did indeed find it.  Now we just need to get them to run a line, which they said could be done.  So, we will have water for the garden, which is great news.  We’ve been hand watering it when it doesn’t rain, which is fine, but having a line right there will be really good.  The garden is growing and it’s so fun to go check on our babies every morning!  We just hope it actually produces something, who knows.

And the other really good news is that yesterday at church the self-reliance classes were announced and we had 39 people sign up for classes!  We begin our first class tomorrow night.  They are interested in the How to Start a Business, gardening, and English classes.  I think we had 12 sign up for gardening.  So, we’re off and running.

The other really good news…we’ve been here for 3 weeks and we have not seen one single other gringo/gringa anywhere, but today we met 3.  We were in the grocery store with the elders and as we walked in I thought I saw a gringa, and sure enough she was standing in an aisle waiting for her husband to return from the bank across the street.  So, I began talking with her and found out that she is German, speaks English, Spanish, and Russian, her husband is from Texas, retired and have been living in Pinotepa with their son for 8 years!  And they love it!  Of course, they most likely are wealthy enough to live in a nice home with AC and I know they drive a car.  Anyway, she asked about us and I told them we were missionaries for the Mormon Church.  She said that they had had a couple of the nicest young men come and talk with them about the church but they never came back and that was 2 years ago!  I asked her if she would like them to come again, and she said yes!  So, Dad went and found the elders who set up an appointment for this Wednesday night and when her husband came back we met him and he said, great if my wife invited you all to come to our home, that’s great with me!  Isn’t that coo!  And then this   guy, named Jared Kemp, a gringo, came walking in right about then, introduced himself to us and said that he had been a missionary here 8 years ago and married the former branch president’s daughter and was here for an extended visit.  He’s a manager for Vivint from Utah, doing installations for the company there.  It was kind of a fun day.

Oh darn, I have a bit of other bad news…we also found out last Friday that we most likely will not be able to get internet for our apartment because the area is “saturated” whatever that means.  It means that there are no available lines.  But I’m not giving up.  We talked with one of our neighbors who was moving out Saturday and they had internet.  So, we went back to the internet company today and told them about this lady moving out…which they knew nothing about yet.  So who knows?  We’re kind of bummed…you know you sort of just are programmed for living on the net for important things like communicating with family, paying bills, being trained for our assignment here, etc.  So, keep a good thought for us.  Until then…we go down to the church to do email. 

This is truly a beautiful country.  I don’t know where it begins, but from Mexico City down to where we live, and I would imagine into Central America it is lush green, tropical, and hilly.  All the way down from Mexico City there wasn’t a speck of desert and here in Pinotepa it’s very green and hilly.  The problem is that it’s tropical, so hot and humid.  Pinotepa is just a regular little poor Mexican town.  In fact, President Avila told us that the state in which we live is the poorest in the whole country.  The members have told the missionaries that the beach is only about 30 minutes away; however, there are crocodiles in the water and on the beach.  They said that a couple of months ago a little girl was killed by one while playing in the water.  Of course, Dad still wants to go see the ocean, but I’m not so sure.

So, we hope all is well with you and yours.  Dad’s back has recovered mostly.  Thank you for your prayers. 

We sure do love you all,

Mom and Dad

Non and Pop

October 11, 2016

October 11, 2016   

                                                                              

I MUST HAVE PASSED THE COLD SHOWER TEST!!!  I asked the lady who lives above us if they had hot water in their apartment, and of course they do.  So she took us across the street to the people who manage the apartment building and told them we had no hot water.  The manager’s response was, “Well the people who lived there before you didn’t have hot water and they didn’t care.”  It was the elders who lived here before and they don’t care.  Anyway, she told us that if we wanted hot water we would have to pay the plumber to come and hook it up, which we gladly did and now we have warm water showers…yaaaaaaaay.  Oh, appreciate the things you take for granted!

We’ve also been trying to figure out what to do with our garbage.  The same lady who lives above us told us we had to take it to the dump ourselves.  Well, great, hire a taxi to take the garbage to the dump.  How dumb is that.  But we found out Monday morning on our way to work in the garden with the elders, when we saw a guy walking up and down the street ringing a cow bell that that was the signal for the people that the garbage truck was coming and to put your trash out.  So we all ran back to our apartments and grabbed our garbage bags.  I then asked the elders how we can get another canister of propane gas (for the stove and hot water) delivered when ours runs out…a truck drives through the neighborhood with canisters of gas to sell and he plays through a speaker mounted on top of his truck, the sound of a cow mooing and then you know that you can run outside and try to stop the truck and buy more gas!  AND THEN, we have guys driving motor scooters going up and down our street every day constantly beeping their horns.  Dad and I couldn’t figure out why they were doing this, it’s so obnoxious.  Well, turns out they’re selling fresh, hot tortillas they have in a cooler mounted on their scooters and when the people hear the beeping they know that fresh tortillas are here. These people eat tortillas morning, noon, and night, so the vendors don’t stop the beeping until well past dark.

So:

Cow bell for garbage

Mooing to buy propane gas

Beeping to buy fresh tortillas

And really good hearing to hear them all! You’d think we live on a farm!

 We got some really bad news on Sunday.  The Branch President told us that there’s no water to the land behind the chapel (where we are planting a garden), and the well on the property wasn’t functioning.  We were planning to clear all the weeds, clean up the garbage, and give anyone in the branches who wanted to learn how to garden their own plot to cultivate, not to mention the garden Dad and I have been preparing for planting.  Plus, at one time this land was also used for a soccer field because there are goal posts still there, and we had visions of using the land for families and neighbors and the youth to use as a soccer field, to gather as families, and to garden, but without water, what would we do.  Apparently, the municipal watering system is sporadic at best and the church building can go days without any water, so there was no chance to hook into the church’s water.  This morning Dad and I had no idea what to do about this situation, but while at the garden, a man showed up, who was the previous Branch President, and showed us that there is water in the well and a pump, and there’s two cisterns in front of the building which hold water from the city that we could tap into!  Which means that there are ways to get our gardens watered!  In addition to this, this man also knew a brother who owns a nursery of sorts who might have seeds/plants/compost to get our garden started and he was willing to drive us to this brother’s home where he has his nursery.  The man wasn’t there, but his wife was; we bought some composting material and she said her husband could get us some of the vegetable plants that we were looking for. 

While at this home, we found out that they also raise chickens, which is another self-reliance project that has already been approved by the church to help people be able to raise chickens.  The church’s program is for those who qualify by being active in the church and willing to make the commitment to raise the chickens. The church will give them 5 chickens for each member of their family, plus a rooster so the family has the means to provide for their family's needs plus sell eggs or chickens when the have multiplied.  So, the family where we were buying some compost and the plants is inactive but the wheels in dad’s head start spinning and he’s thinking, this brother is the perfect person to lead out for both the gardening and chicken projects and to teach others how to do it and it may be the perfect way to help re-activate the family (who have been endowed also).  Apparently there were bad feelings between them and other members of the branch and this family just stopped coming to church.  Well, we were so excited about all of this wonderful good news…our projects can still move along and through them, this family may be willing to come back to church. God does hear and answers prayers, but it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.  We went to the garden this morning, not sure what to be doing, and the former branch president shows up at the same time with all the answers!!!  The window wasn’t opened, the whole door was!

 We have two branches in Pinotepa that our President wants us to concentrate on so we went to both of their meetings on Sunday so we could meet everyone.  The first branch had 18 members in attendance and were a little stand-offish.  But the second branch was SOOOOOOOO awesome…just like we have experienced in other Latin branches, extremely friendly and welcoming.  That is actually the branch we live in.  It was really wonderful to hear their testimonies because they had had a temple excursion the week before to the Oaxaca temple (which is 8 hours away) and some had been able to take their children to do baptisms.  They all talked about their experiences at the temple and then bore “pure testimonies.”  No travel logs, no jokes, no preaching, just pure testimonies.  The sisters were so sweet to me…I love them already (I have a soft spot in my heart for the older ladies, maybe because I am one).  We got to visit with the Branch President, who asked if I could play the piano, so we got a key to the church for me to be able to practice.  I played the piano today, and it’s so out of tune.  But you know what, I don’t think the people will realize that because they sing out of tune anyway!!!  I swear, Latinos are all born tone deaf I think.

 So, today was a good day!

 October 13, 2016

 The incredible blessings continue.  Yesterday Ken noticed a yard up the street a bit, walked over to it to get a closer look, and couldn’t believe what he saw…a huge pile of sawdust, just what we needed for the compost for our garden.  He talked to the man who, is a furniture maker, to ask if he would sell the sawdust to him and the man said just take it, we throw it away!  Oh my goodness, sawdust helps to make wonderful compost; what a gold mine.  When Ken was talking with the elders yesterday about the sawdust they said they had an investigator who had a truck and they would call him to see if he would be willing to use his truck to load up the sawdust and take it to our garden.  Not only did he agree, but the elders made themselves available also to help load.  So last night we got this huge pile of sawdust delivered right to the garden. 

 This morning we went to the garden to work to add sawdust to the soil and turn the soil so it could begin decomposing.  Ken had one row of soil turned over when he pulled a muscle in his back and had to sit down.  The pain was so bad that he decided it might help to lie down on the cool concrete sidewalk at the chapel (on the other side of the wall).  So he got himself to the sidewalk and I started to do his job, which was still 90% of the garden that needed to be turned.  The job really needed to get done today so the soil could get ready for planting as we are running out of time to get seeds in the ground.  It was so hot and humid and I didn’t think I would be up to the challenge but I knew that Ken wasn’t going to be able to return to the work, so I prayed that Heavenly Father would ease my burden and make me equal to the task.  He did!  I was able to get the whole garden soil turned in about 45 minutes.  But in order to compost the soil we need water and the cisterns at the church are very low right now because it hasn’t rained for about 5 days.  So while I was working I was praying that it would rain.  And it did!  The windows of heaven opened up this afternoon and down poured!!  What an incredible blessing…we found the missing ingredient for the compost, got it to the garden area, got it spread on the garden, and turned the soil in time for the rain.  We were amazed at all of these wonderful little tender mercies.

 So, back to Dad.  When I finished my part in the garden I went to put the tools away and check on him.  He wasn’t doing well at all; could not sit up, could not stand up, and the pain was pretty intense.  So I began to try to figure out how I was going to get him home.  We live about 3 blocks from the church, where our garden is, and of course our mode of transportation is walking everywhere. There was no way he was going to be able to walk home up and down hills.  We decided to get a taxi, but the taxis here are super small and he can hardly get himself into one when his back is not hurting, so that wasn’t going to be the answer.  I looked up and noticed that a car had parked across the street from the church and the men were actually coming to the church to do some repairs.  I asked them if they could help us get Dad home and of course they were willing.  He could hardly get himself to the car but with the help of a long stick we found which he used as a crutch, he used my shoulder to lean on and managed to get himself to the car.  The elders, who live above us, were still at home and gave him a blessing.  He took some ibuprofen, laid on an ice bag, and tried to rest.  Geoff suggested some medicine to rub into his back to relieve the muscle pain which I was able to get it at the pharmacy down the street.  When Dad woke up about an hour and a half later, he was much better.  He then found where he had put some pretty strong pain medicine and that has helped to relax the muscle and he is actually moving around again.

 God does indeed hear and answer prayers; if we will just move our feet and do our part, the blessings will come.

 October 16, 2016

 We spent the last two days traveling with President and Sister Avila, who were in Pinotepa to do his regular quarterly interviews with the missionaries, to get back to Cuernavaca to finish getting our visas in order.  It took so long because he needed to interview other missionaries in other towns on the way back to Acapulco.  Then in Acapulco he had a 5 hour meeting with the Area Seventy.  So, we are very tired of traveling and will need to repeat the process on Tuesday, but in a couple of buses.  Ken’s back is much better with all the prayers, medicine, and the blessing he received.  Jodi said that he must be experiencing the back pain test!

 With the help of six elders who were in Pinotepa for their interviews we got the garden planted yesterday before we left for a few days.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Sorry it's so long but I couldn't figure out how to tell our story to all of you without all the details.  Oh well.

Love you,

Mom and Dad

October 2, 2016

October 2, 2016

Hola de Cuernavaca, Mexico.  I wanted to just let you all know that Dad and I have survived our first week in Mexico, but I’m not sure about the next week.  We’ve been staying at the Mission Home all week because there’s some kind of issue with our visa (of course), and we think we’re leaving on Tuesday for our assignment in Pinotepa Nacional, which is a 10 hour bus ride from here.  Just like in Guatemala, when a group of people are disgruntled with the government, they protest, and blocking the highway is their preferred method of protesting (I guess it could be worse).  So, just in case the teachers decide to protest this week we have to travel with one of the President’s counselors because what happens is that the people block the highway, no one can get through, and you have to walk with your suitcases a couple kilometers past the roadblock, call some other bus in Acapulco to come pick you up, and then wait for them to arrive.  The President is concerned for us, so thank goodness he’s sending his counselor with us.  Sounds like it could get dicey!

Anyway, the president has been discussing our assignment with us during the week, and really for the first few weeks we’re just going to meet the members of both branches, visit with the leaders, and just kind of get a feel for how we can help them.  This is a small town of about 30 thousand, very poor, and lots of inactives in the branches.  The leaders don’t know how to lead, and the people don’t come to church.  He’s hoping we can be MLS missionaries as well as Self Reliance Missionaries and teach them how to garden, preserve their food (fruit is abundant and super cheap, like mangoes), and learn how to start their own businesses!  

October 8, 2016

So, I didn’t have time to finish my letter, and there’s lots to tell you about!  About our trip to Pinotepa…I was POSITIVE we were going to die!!!  I even told Heavenly Father I was willing to die and asked Him to take care of my family!  Apparently President Rodriguez (the counselor in our presidency who was supposed to accompany us on a bus trip to Pinotepa) decided to drive us there instead, bringing along his wife and two little girls.  Sounds ok, but it was a 7 passenger van and he took out the back seat for our many pieces of luggage, so us two women and little girls sat on the middle seat which had NO seatbelts.  The girls were really sweet and sat on mom’s lap or wandered around in the car the whole trip. The van had two sliding doors and I figured that if we got in an accident, all the girls and women were going to be goners out either door (cause Dad and Pres Rodriguez did have seatbelts).  So you’re probably wondering why I would be so worried about having an accident…the car had no rear brakes (it was literally metal on metal), no shocks, and when we arrived in the first large town (Acapulco) and stopped at an intersection, the driver next to us told us our front tire was flat.  Not to mention our driver was driving like a bat out of hell, and since I was sitting behind him, I could see that he was exceeding the posted speed limit by 30 or 40 kilometers!  After getting the tire fixed and on our way again, President Rodriguez told Dad that he knew the tire had a hole in it before we left Cuernavaca and he just put air in it!!!  So we were traveling about 80 MPH on a highway for 10 hours under those conditions.  And in Mexico while going through the smaller towns there’s speed bumps (about 30 in total) and huge potholes.   The President wanted us to spend the night in Acapulco so we didn’t arrive at night in Pinotepa because the road is so dangerous, but instead we got here about 9:30. Oh, and then we had this bizarre sight to see…standing in the middle of this two way highway to Pinotepa was a young man, buck naked, standing in a bucket, for who knows what reason.  The only thing we could figure out is that it was his message that he is so poor, he doesn’t even have something to cover his nakedness.  Who knows?  Strange way to get your message out.  Unfortunately, I can’t get that sight out of my mind yet.

I was pretty wiped out by then, and was greeted with a black widow at our front door, spider webs clinging to my arms and face as I walked through the front door, bugs inside the house, and it was like an oven inside the house.  AND THEN, they all started talking about all the spiders and scorpions in this town.  Do you think I was able to sleep at all?  I was scared something was going to come out from under the bed and bite us during the night!  So the next day I was able to scope out the apartment, under chairs and couches, inside cupboards, under shelves, etc. and convinced myself that there were no more black widows at least, just the normal little spiders here and there and a couple of cockroaches that we killed with bug spray and (which was one of the first things we purchased at the store!).

The Zone leader and his comp live above us and are just really awesome young men.  We had a Zone Meeting the day after arriving and met all the elders in our zone.  The young missionaries are so danged impressive, and the Church’s “Preach My Gospel” program is really wonderful.  They taught each other how to be better missionaries, including how to plan their days, be obedient, and study the scriptures.  What an inspired program…not only are we teaching investigators the gospel, but we are teaching these young people how to be successful themselves in their future.  We are so glad to be a part of the missionary effort to bring people to Christ.  As we have walked around town and to the market, Dad talks to everyone we meet about the Church.  We wear our name badges everywhere, and sometimes the people recognize the badges and ask if we’re from the Church, and they’ll tell us about members of their families who are members.  When he asks them about having the missionaries talk to them, most have said that they already have, but most also say they don’t have time to go to church because they work every day.  He’s convinced that the missionaries have probably contacted everyone in this town!

Anyway, as I told you above, President Avila has asked us to help these people learn self-reliance.  Our chapel is just two blocks from our apartment and the church has extra land behind the chapel which is walled in and has a gate on it.  Sooooooo, Dad decided to start a model garden for the people and we’re going to ask them if they want to learn how to garden.  So each morning we have been going down to the church and getting a patch ready to plant, and he found seeds at an agriculture store downtown.  As you all pointed out, we’re not young any more, heck we’re not middle aged any more, and with this heat and humidity we have to rest every ten minutes and we only work for about an hour or hour and a half and then we return home.  This will be only one part of teaching self-reliance.  Before we left Cuernavaca a brother came and trained us in the Church’s program for teaching self-reliance…what an awesome program that is.  And, interestingly, the program was pioneered here in Mexico and they are currently adapting it for use in the U.S.  It teaches people how to open businesses, find a job, and get an education.  We are anxious to be part of helping to implement the program in these branches.  Hopefully we have some people interested enough in it that we can teach.

While buying tortillas for dinner one day, the lady at the tortilleria noticed dad’s name badge and said Hermano!  She’s a member of our branch and refused to take his pesos to pay for the tortillas.  We’re anxious to go to church tomorrow and meet more of the members and visit with the branch president to get his ideas on how we can help to strengthen the branch.  Dad has lots of idea, but we need to find out what the branch needs from us.  As in Guatemala, there are lots of little tiendas everywhere.  Only one market to buy food, etc. and it’s pretty small, downtown, with very limited things to buy.  But the good news is food is very cheap here.  We found a tacqueria tonight and bought 8 tacos and two sodas for $5.  They were very good.  

I was a bit shocked to find out that we have no hot water for bathing, washing hands, doing laundry, or for the kitchen….NO HOT WATER!  Yes, it’s hot here, but a cold water shower really put me to the test.  I can’t tell you how many times I said to myself the first couple of days “I can do hard things.”  So we boil water every time I need to do dishes… Lezlie, you’ll be happy to know that I’m a convert to paper plates…and brush our teeth with bottled water.

We won’t have internet for another couple of weeks and our cell service is very limited until we can get downtown, so we can’t call much or text much yet. I’m hoping to be able to send this letter from the church tomorrow.

All is well.  We are happy serving the Lord.  And of course, Dad loves the town.  The people are very friendly to us.  We get lots of stares though.  Someone told us that there are no other gringos in the town, so I guess we’re a bit of a novelty.   We have a locked steel gate at the front of the building and high walls surrounding us, so we feel safe here also.

We hope all is well with each of you.  We love you and appreciate very much your support and encouragement for us to serve this mission. I have to tell you that Dad is a stalwart…always finds the things to be positive about and I so appreciate that characteristic in him.

Please tell your kids how much we love them and miss you all.

Love, Mom and Dad