December 31, 2017

We wanted to share with you a message our bishop shared today.  It was about plans and goals for the new year.  He encouraged each of us to list those things most important to us and then to prioritize them and choose goals accordingly.  Then the most important thing he said was when he quoted Elder Ashton, which went something like this:  we often use as a reason for not doing the things that should have a high priority in our lives that we just didn't have time to do them.  If we simply substituted the phrase, it wasn't a priority in my day, week, year, we would probably find the real reason for not doing these things.  It's the reason we sometimes fail to make real progress in our life...we fail to do those each day that should be priorities.  It's easy to say (justify) I didn't have time, rather than admit the real reason, it wasn't a priority.  It's self-indicting, but probably honest.  We encourage each of us to take an honest personal inventory of those things in our lives that need to be changed, strengthened, overcome, and accomplished and strive for real personal progress in the coming year.  We love you,
Mom and Dad, Non and Pop

December 19, 2017

We had an awesome class tonight with these ladies.  Everyone brought something to share from the things we've taught them.  We had monkey bread, peanut butter cookies, empanadas, banana bread, kettle corn, and Mormon bran muffins!!!  This was a payday night.  We just love these sisters.
These sisters were from our very first class after moving to Cuernavaca and our most enthusiastic.  I truly do just love them.

December 19, 2017

This little guy is Asdrubal, the brave young boy who stood up to the robbers a few weeks ago when the bandit had his gun on the back of his dad's head while robbing them in the restaurant.

December 13, 2017

So here's our Christmas decorations...a little puny but better than nada!  Do you like our purple patio?

December 10, 2017

Here's some local mentality.

#1 We went to Walmart in Acapulco and found what I needed to buy.  The price was 50 pesos each or 2 for 40 pesos.

#2  Dad wanted to buy something that cost 2 for 5 pesos or 3 for 10 pesos.  And when he asked to buy 2 for 5 twice she told him no.  So he said, well how about if I buy 1 of the 3 for 10 and she wouldn't sell it to him because she wanted to get rid of her rotten fruit.

December 10, 2017

These are my newest experiment...copycat Costco chocolate muffin.  Not bad!  I need to find about 6 new recipes.

December 6, 2017

We're home for the night finally and off to Acapulco manana until Saturday night.  We are so busy.  Everyone knows now that we're leaving in February so we are almost booked until the 17th of February.  I think we would like to sleep for about a week.

December 7, 2017

It's good to be busy and we're having fun teaching fun things.  BUT i'm tired!  We have the week after Christmas with no classes, which will help.  On our way to Acapulco.

December 3, 2017

So dad and I taught the ladies in our ward how to make kettle corn.  Today one of the sisters taught our lesson on the Christmas initiative to Light the World by serving others and gave each of us a little container full of kettle corn.  We thought that was pretty cool.

The city of Cuernavaca arranged for someone to make a tubing run and ice skating rink in our central plaza.  It was free to those who decided to wait in line.

November 28, 2017

We taught the double chocolate cookies and they like them....carmelita's next.  Soooo I'm wondering if anyone had a yummy lemon bread recipe.  They are finally selling lemons in the stores now.

We had an awesome class tonight in Chilpancingo.  About 50 people showed up to learn how to make monkey bread and zucchini bread.  They both turned out really yummy, thank goodness!

November 23, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving kiddos.  Have a wonderful day together.  We are grateful that we were blessed with a wonderful family.  We love you!!!
Dad would like to suggest that you spend a few minutes sharing the things you are grateful for with each other.  And remember in your prayers those who struggle.  And I hope you will each remember your brother.

Happy birthday Caitlyn Mariah!


They loved the dinner dad and I fixed for them.

Most of these elders are from the US.

November 22, 2017

Dear family....as much as we'll miss being home for the holidays we are happy serving our family here in Mexico.  We will be preparing and serving Thanksgiving dinner for 50 missionaries tomorrow.  So what are each of your plans for Thanksgiving?  It sounds like all of you are staying home for the most part, but fill in the blanks for us.  We love you.

Thanksgiving preparations...
We're doing good.  Biggest problem is lack of pots and pans, lack of ovens, lack of refrigerator space, and lack of help, but other than that we're good.

November 12, 2017

Hi boys and girls,

We had a very busy but successful week of classes, traveling to Iguala, Huitzuco, Chilpancingo, and a new branch, Zumpango, teaching 9 different recipes along with all the ingredients and kitchen tools to make them with!  We were blessed with safety and wonderful friendships.

We have a couple of stories to share with you all.  Most Mexican cities have what is called a periferico, which is a commercial route that skirts the outward boundaries of the town, and along the periferico is found restaurants and stores, etc.  Our friend, President Pedro Ibarra, who is a counselor in the Stake Presidency in Iguala, took his wife and two sons out for tacos at a taco stand located on the periferico one evening last week after closing their paleteria for the day.  As the family was enjoying their tacos two men rode up on a motorcycle, got off and drew their guns on about twenty people eating dinner in the restaurant, and demanded everyone to put their wallets, purses, and cell phones on the tables.  One of the gunmen walked over behind President Pedro and held a gun to the back of his head.  Pedro’s ten year old son, whose name is Asdrubal, and is normally a very quiet and reserved boy, stood up, walked up to the gunman and said to him, “What are you doing to my dad?”  Both the parents were shocked that their son would confront the gunman, and fearing for his life, both told him to return to his seat, which he dutifully did.  After sitting down he immediately bowed his head and prayed out loud for their safety.  The bandit who had been holding the pistol to Pedro’s head became confused and disoriented and began pacing back and forth behind the Ibarra’s table.  Pedro said this went on for about five minutes.  He then began collecting the phones, purses, and wallets from the various tables. As he prepared to leave the restaurant he noticed a bag at the Ibarra’s table and demanded it also.  Unfortunately, the bag contained all the cash deposits from their paleteria business, which was about 10,000 pesos ($500).  The bag was divided into two sections and for some reason Pedro had put 7000 on one side of the bag and 3000 on the other side.  The gunman saw the 7000 cash, grabbed that and tossed the bag back to Pedro without realizing that there was more cash in the other section of the bag.  Finding the silver lining, President Ibarra said how grateful he and his wife were that not all the money was taken.  The response of Asdrubal was reminiscent of David meeting Goliath; he was fearless and faithful in spite of great danger and turned to the Lord in prayer.  When Pedro was asked about Asdrubal’s name, since it is quite unusual and not Hispanic, he explained that it is a German name, which means “protected of God.”  Indeed he was that day!

Pedro and Patty, along with their two sons, Kevin and Asdrubal, are a pretty incredible family.  They were all baptized about two and a half years ago, he’s a counselor in the stake presidency, and one the most faithful men we’ve met.  His son, Kevin, who is about 16, is preparing now for his mission.  It is a bit unusual to find a family as dedicated to the work as this family is.  What a blessing, truly, it has been to become his friend and share our lives a little every two weeks as he drives us to various locations within the stake boundaries to give classes.  He waits through the two hours of class, encourages the people to put into practice what we have taught them, and then gets us back to town in time for our bus home.  

Our visit to the Zumpango branch was a bit surprising.  We were told that the branch had about 30 active members and to expect probably about 5 people to attend our cooking class, which was held in their Casa de Oracion, basically a home converted to their place of worship.  After about 5 people arrived I told the branch president that we were ready to start class, so he did.  We had a song and prayer and then I started teaching and people continued arriving!  We ended up with about 30 people (including the kids they brought).  The room was packed and they kept adding more and more chairs!  When the branch president closed the class he made an invitation to attend church on Sunday.  Well, we found out that there were 10 investigators also in that group, which I'm sure included children, but it was a full house and a pleasant surprise!  A couple ladies in attendance gave me little gifts as they were leaving the class...one was a container of roll-on deodorant and the other was something strange that I'm supposed to eat but I'm afraid to!!!  You know, these are strange gifts, but gifts given quite graciously and thoughtfully actually.  It was the best they had to give to the teacher and express gratitude.  It was awesome.

We always like to ask them at the beginning of class if they made anything we taught and if they were successful, and Dad likes to ask what their favorite item is.  We're a bit surprised how many of them have told us wheat pancakes are their favorites!!  Even Dad likes them.

One more story...I laughed so hard, and I'm still laughing just thinking about it, and I suppose it's one of those things you had to experience to truly find the humor in it.  But, as you know, Dad's name, Ken, sounds like the Spanish word "quien" which means "who".   We were having a friendly conversation with the taxi driver and he asked dad what his name is.  When Dad told him his name, Ken, the driver thought he was saying "who" and  repeated his question, and Dad repeated his name...it's like the conversation went like this: what is your name? Who.  The driver repeated the question and Dad repeated his name.  So the driver got a little flustered and said very slowly, "yo me llamo Jaime. Como se llama usted?" and pointed at Dad.  Dad repeated his name, saying in Spanish "who."  The driver just busted up laughing at Dad, and Dad and I were laughing at him!  At that point Dad decided he shouldn't tell him his full name, which in Spanihs means "who pissed." (Sorry, that's is for real).  Which is why our names on our missionary name tag is spelled Medows, so that people don't call us something they think is not nice.  Right about then we arrived at our destination and the first thing the driver said  to me when he got out of the car was, so what is your name????  I think he was a bit relieved to know that I was Chrystina.

So, onward and upward.  Our nights are totally booked for the rest of November and mostly full for December already.  The time is quickly coming and going and before long we'll be home and off again!  We love serving the Lord.  We love you.  Please share our letter with our grandkids.  We hope your coming week is successful and happy.

Love,

Mom and Dad, Non and Pop, Ken and Chrys

The photos for those who have not seen them:

Pop's surprise birthday cake at Chilpancingo, they sand six verses of their birthday song to him, along mariachi music

November 7, 2017

Boys and girls, it's official...we got our mission call to the Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission, reporting to the MTC on March 26 for two days of visitors center training and then on to Martin's Cove in Wyoming for six months.  We will be living in an RV (which we need to buy) in the Missionary Village with about 60 other couples and telling people all about our Sarah Loader, our ancestor who was in the Martin's handcart company and camped at Martin's Cove in wait for the rescuers from SLC to come and save their lives.  We are very excited to have this opportunity to serve in this awesome place.  Google it and you can learn a little more about it.

October 29, 2017

October 29, 2017

Hi Boys and Girls,

We had a really busy and great week and I wanted to share just a few of our highlights.  First of all, I figured out that with all of our classes and new missionaries this past week we made 4 dozen cinnamon rolls, 2 dozen carrot/apple muffins, 3 batches of whole wheat pancakes (really delicious), 3 batches of cracked wheat cereal, 2 dozen apple spice muffins (they’ve become my new favorite sweet bread), 8 dozen cookies, and 3 pies!!!  Dang, and I actually lost a couple of pounds!  It was an awesome week.  When I want to teach them how to make a sweet bread it’s easier and way faster to make them into muffins instead so we make lots of muffins.

One of the places we traveled to was back to the Huitzuco branch out in the boonies (so many of them are) to where our friend, Hermano Felipe lives.  He’s the man I was telling you about last letter who lost his job and began making and selling banana bread (muffins) and kettle corn and is now providing for his family with this.  He was quite anxious for our class and up front to watch everything I did, but for some reason wouldn’t volunteer to help cook.  Anyway apparently he’s successful with his new business and anxious to learn more.  However, he told me about a problem he had while baking something…someone told him that baking soda and baking powder were the same thing so he couldn’t figure out why his muffins baked correctly one time and then when he changed the recipe they didn’t!  I’m telling you, it is really surprising how these people really do not cook and know very little about it.  Many of them don’t own an oven or measuring spoons or cups.  But the ones who are trying are successful.  Eugenia was one who didn’t have an oven in her home, but she had a vision and faith and confidence.  Hermano Felipe is gaining confidence the more success he has.  Another lady in the same branch makes and sells our kettle corn and every time she does, the people see her coming to the central plaza with it and she sells out!  For the life of me I can’t figure out why she doesn’t do more, but when we told her how cheap it was to make and how much money she was making, she was impressed with herself!!

We traveled to Galeana again also.  There’s a lady who has come to the last three or four classes who is not a member but comes with her friend.  Apparently she thinks Dad and I are her best friends…last Friday night she wanted photos with us and gave us hugs and kisses galore!  Her name is Marina, and I like her a lot.  This last class she brought a couple other non-member friends or family members with her! She’s always the first to volunteer to help cook because she’s really enjoying the class.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this class was the stepping stone to membership for her…”one of a city, two of a family.”  That’s our motto…if we can help but one of a branch or two in a stake to be more self-reliant we will feel satisfied and successful.  It’s fun to be with the people in this stake because they are very animated, interested, and having a good time.

We also taught a class in San Andres, an awesome little town nestled in the mountains just north of us.  We have to travel there by bus and then get a taxi from the bus terminal to the chapel.  Well we're standing there waiting for a taxi to come along and one did...the lady in the front passenger side opened the window and said get in and let's go!  We didn't recognize her as one of the members but she met us at the terminal to take us to the chapel which we certainl weren't expecting.  She was so excited for the class that she brought her own mixing bowls and ingredients because she wanted to make whatever it was we were teaching that day and take it home to her family!  Not only did she volunteer to help cook but she was really excited to do so and told me after class that since she got to practice she was already getting good at making it!!  It was cute.  Made me feel good.

So we got our “going home” letter from one of the office missionaries this past week about our travel plans for going home, which Dad and I found a bit entertaining.  It was a form letter that they send to all the missionaries about 4 months before their release date that we have to fill out and send back so he can purchase airline tickets, etc.  So a sample of the questions (keeping in mind that we are the only senior missionaries in the mission and this is a form letter):  #1 Are your parents coming to the mission to pick you up on the day of your release?  #2 What is the name of the airport at your final destination?

We started envisioning what it would be like if our parents came to pick us up on the day of our release and where that “final destination” would be and decided that that wouldn’t be such a bad thing to have happen!!  And #3 what are the emails and phone numbers of your parents?  I’m thinking Geoff or Darren would have a great time answering these questions for us!

Anyway, it is about that time. Like Jodi said the other day about life in general, some weeks just fly by and some weeks have crept along, but one thing about it is I’ve certainly grown to love my mission and the people we get to interact with on a regular basis.  I will truly miss being part of their lives.  I always hoped we would be able to go on a mission like this, never dreamed it would actually happen…it’s wonderful to help others come unto Christ or teach them how to be more self-reliant and successful temporally.  It’s wonderful to serve our Savior and help to build up His kingdom on the earth. 

We love you and are grateful for your support and encouragement and prayers, and we pray for your success as well.

 Love,

Mom and Dad, Non and Pop, Ken and Chrys

Photo #1 some of the ladies from our ward learning how to make pies, which was a special request.  It's too difficult to do that and travel, so we only did it because it was at our home ward

#2 Hermano Felipe in Huitzuco and Hermana don't know her name who sells kettle corn

#3 How do you like the shower curtain I use for a table cloth...hunted everywhere for a table cloth and could not find one!  So frustrating.

#4 The woman standing between dad and I is our non-member friend Marina, and the other is her friend who brings her to class    

October 22, 2017

October 22, 2017

 Hola from Cuernavaca, the City of Eternal Spring…that’s really what they like to call it, and I’m a believer.  The rain has subsided, we now have sunny days, the mosquitos are diminishing, the cockroaches are everywhere despite the Raid every night and day, no recent earthquakes, and we are happy serving the Lord.  Last week was really awesome…we came home from our three-day trip totally worn out (for a couple of oldsters) but really excited about our interactions with our brothers and sisters here.  We traveled to our favorite places, Iguala, Chilpancingo, and a little branch for the first time called Ocotito…way out in the boonies.

 Both of these groups had asked us to teach them things to do with wheat which we were a little hesitant to do because corn is their grain of choice (as in tortillas every morning, noon, and night) and we didn’t think they would ever do anything with wheat, but after asking us a couple more times, we decided that we would plan a wheat class for them.  They assured us that wheat was readily available to buy and that we could grind it in our blender.  News to us, but as it turns out, yes you can grind wheat in your blender.  Our classes turned out to be awesome…even though I doubt they will do anything with it but we showed them how really yummy wheat things can taste.

 In planning for the class we first made wheat bread with wheat flour from our local store…it was so gross I had to throw it away.  The wheat flour had turned rancid sitting at the store!  So we next searched for wheat grains, found it both in our local market and the mercado.  The blender didn’t grind it as fine as it needed to be, so back to searching for a hand wheat grinder…bingo at the Mercado again!  I tell you, you can buy just about anything in a Mercado here.  So we ground the wheat twice in the grinder and then put it in the blender to refine it into flour…it worked!  The bread we made was delicious using the same recipe as for white bread with a few changes (like honey).  Even made a loaf of wheat cinnamon bread…so yummy!  But what else could we teach them???  Dad went to work researching how to sprout, grow wheat grass, and how to make wheat nuts.  I happened onto a recipe for wheat pancakes and dad reminded me that my favorite cereal is cracked wheat….so there we had enough to teach them in a two hour class.  It felt like we were running a tag-team marathon!!!  It was awesome.  They were really taken back by how yummy it all was.  Dad always likes to ask them at the end of the class what their favorite recipe was and several of them liked the pancakes the best!  I lucked out with a really good recipe.   Wheat bread, cinnamon/raisin wheat bread, pancakes, hot cracked wheat cereal, wheat grass, wheat sprouts, and wheat nuts.

 So we taught the same class, mas o menos, in all three places and got pretty good at our tag-teaming by the end of the week!  If you can believe it we carried dad’s wheat grass around with us all week on buses and in hotels and somehow it survived.

 Oh, something kind of funny, but shocking at the time happened during one of our classes.  On the third night of teaching this class I had all my ingredients and bowls and utensils, hot water for the bread, eggs for the pancakes, everything spread out on the demonstration table.  I had just measured all the dry ingredients for the bread into a large bowl when the table just suddenly collapsed, of course taking everything and dumping it onto the floor!!!  The wonder of it all, nothing broke, the dry ingredients in my bowl didn’t dump out (I didn’t have a speck of yeast left to start over if it had), the eggs cracked (the only two I had) but Pop managed to salvage them, and besides being wet from the water spilling out, we picked it all up, dried it off and carried on!!!  If you’ve ever had that happen to you it’s really shocking to have the table collapse, the noise of it all.  Obviously the guys who set up the table forgot to lock the legs, but all was ok.

 In between my cooking Pop taught them about wheat, its nutritional value, storage, the fact that nutrients start deteriorating the moment the berry is cracked open, etc.  One of the ladies at the end of our class told him that he was like a book!  But you know what…they’re like sponges.  They wanted to know what we were going to teach next…I asked them what they wanted to learn.  Their answer…everything!! 

 Another part to this story is on the way to the bus terminal Hermana Estella told us that two of the men in attendance were friends of hers, not members, in fact one is a pastor in another church.  But they wanted to learn more about self-reliance so she invited them to come to our classes.  After the first class the pastor decided to make the cookies and instead of putting in 1 teaspoon of baking soda for some reason measured out 3 teaspoons instead.  Yuk!  He threw it away and started over and didn’t let it discourage him from coming back to the next class.  You just never know what might turn them to the Gospel.

So my last story has nothing to do with cooking or teaching.  One day last week Pop and I were kind of making fun of the paranoia of the Mexicans with their high gates surrounding their homes, padlocks everywhere, glass and barbed wire on top of the walls, etc.  Our conclusion was that they must know their countrymen.  Anyway this was garbage pick-up day and I had put out our trash earlier that morning, a couple of plastic bags full of kitchen trash.  But one of them I had put inside one of those big old green Walmart shopping bags that you buy, which had a large slit in the bottom of it so I was throwing it away also.  When we left our house for the day I realized that even though the trash had not yet been picked up someone had stolen our green bag full of garbage!!!  I was stunned!  Why would someone want to steal our garbage with kitchen scraps, etc.  Pop likes to say about the Mexican culture is they have an attitude that “what’s yours is mine if I can get it”.…I guess the person who stole our garbage that morning must have decided that he could get my green Walmart bag cause I had left it out?????  Go figure.  Maybe their paranoia is justified after all.

 Give kisses to our grandkids…okay, maybe hugs.  We love you all, miss you all, and pray for you all each day.  And I miss English! Thank you for your prayers on our behalf…I have felt occasionally the missionary angels have been working overtime.  We are enjoying our missionary experiences and are anxious for the next mission!

 We’re making cinnamon rolls in the morning for the newbies coming tomorrow…22 of them.

 Love you all,

Mom and Dad, Non and Pop, Ken and Chrys

Photos: #1 and 2 cool looking trees in a park we were enjoying, #3 new group in the Ocotito Branch

October 9, 2017

Mom's journal entries

Kevin's Miracles

August 27, 2017

In our discussion with President Avila at our Zone Conference in May he told us that he had been prompted to transfer us to Cuernavaca for the remainder of our mission and for us to begin packing our things.  The date would be as soon as possible after finding us a place to live and arranging to move our furniture and personal things.  After several different dates that came and went, the day finally did arrive and we moved to Cuernavaca on June 7, 2017.  The next day we moved into our apartment which was just five minutes’ walk to the Mission Office and Stake Center. 

Late that morning we received a call from Lezlie to let us know that Kevin had been arrested the night of June 6 and had called her and Geoff to help bail him out of jail.  It was a very emotional phone conversation between Kevin and Geoff and Lezlie as he was begging them to bail him out, and wondered if anyone else would be able to help him.  During our conversation with Lezlie she said she didn’t know what to do, Kevin was sobbing, but they felt that bailing him out would not be the best thing for Kevin.  As difficult as it was, they declined to help him.  He called them a couple more times before his preliminary hearing, after which bail was no longer an option for him.  He was to serve sixty days in jail and was given the opportunity to find a residential treatment center for another 90 days after his release from jail.

He was miserable in jail, and bored and lonely.  Holli made the trip to visit him two different weekends, which was quite a sacrifice for her to make, but she wanted him to know that his family loved him.  The jail has a drug assessor whose job is to help the inmates find treatment centers, which he did for Kevin, a place called CRASH/Bill Dawson.  After his final sentencing on July 18, he was at the jail for just a few more days when they suddenly transferred him to the George Bailey maximum security prison, and he nor his family had any idea why.  In fact, it was really difficult to even find out where Kevin was, taking me several calls to finally get an answer.  I was just sick thinking about my son being at a maximum security prison, and was afraid for him until he called early the next day to let us know he was going into the treatment center that same day.  Apparently they moved him from Vista Detention center to the prison because they needed his bed for others who were awaiting their hearings.  He later told us that that was a miserable, anxiety-filled day because he had no idea what they were doing with him.  He had the full impact of not being in control of his life and it was frightening to him.  That morning they transferred him to the CRASH substance abuse center, which was another horrible experience according to Kevin.

This treatment center was apparently for criminals and from the very beginning he felt that he didn’t belong…there were murderers, gangsters, and rapists housed at the treatment center, with the very worst one of them as Kevin’s roommate, a murderer. The residents were not allowed outside for fresh air and sunshine nor were they allowed to look out the windows.  The punishment for doing so was to sit in the middle of the circle of residents with each one apparently ridiculing you for breaking the rule.  Another rule was when the roll was passed around to sign if your signature was not between the two lines, not above nor below them, the roll was passed around again until everyone could sign it according to the rule.   If you went in or out the wrong door one of your fellow residents could and would rat on you and then you received a punishment.  There was also a complete blackout from all communications, whether electronic or phone, for several weeks. It was degrading and disgusting to him to have to live there.  Kevin has an alcohol problem and he’s been arrested a few times because of it, but he is not a criminal and couldn’t stand living with criminals and listening to their dreadful stories of killing someone.  After 8 days of this terrible experience he remembered that his release date from jail was scheduled for August 5 and somehow was allowed to call his probation officer who told him that yes, he could leave the treatment center tomorrow, which, of course, he did.  But he was given ten days to find another to fulfill the court’s requirement for residential treatment for 90 days.  That was a Saturday, August 5.

His first appointment with the probation office was Monday, August 7, which he went to, and afterwards he and I spoke on the phone that afternoon.  Kevin was sober then, so I was shocked and very disappointed to find out later that night that after being in jail for 60 days without a drink of alcohol he had chosen to drink again and was very drunk by the time I called him.  And he was angry with his brothers for “ratting” him out. I couldn’t believe he would do that…I so wanted him to choose to be sober.  Early Tuesday evening, August 8, I received a phone call from Jennifer Hartzwig from the Sheriff’s Department Suicide Intervention Crew that they had taken Kevin to the Bayview Mental Hospital and he had given them my name and our phone number to contact.  Jennifer told me that a security guard from the shopping center where Kevin had parked his truck in the back to drink himself into oblivion went to the truck to check on it, found Kevin inside intoxicated and he told the man that he was suicidal, was thinking about overdosing on his meds and probably needed to go to the hospital. This was the beginning of our miracle.  The guard could have simply called the police but recognized that Kevin was in deep trouble and needed help, not jail, and so he called the Intervention Crew instead.  Jennifer also referred him to the In-Home Outreach Team, who would be contacting him to help with whatever he needed help with.  The team was a couple, Steve and Sandra, who had been alcoholics at one time themselves but were now volunteers to help others…they were working the 12^th Step of AA’s 12 Step program!  They did call Kevin and went to visit him and checked on him regularly, and Kev felt that they really did care about him. Once he asked me why they were doing this, were they getting paid?

When I finished my conversation with Jennifer, I immediately called the hospital to find out his condition, but they would neither confirm nor deny that he was a patient there, and for the next three days I got the same answer from them until Kevin called me on Thursday afternoon.  He couldn’t remember anything about the past two days.  He had no recollection how he got to the hospital nor why he was there, only that they would be releasing him the next day because they can only keep him three days. 

But while he was medicated and detoxing for those two days Lezlie and I began making phone calls at Jennifer’s suggestion, to find a short-term crisis intervention home for him to go to when he was released from Bayview to keep him safe and to help him start healing his mind.  We found out that beds in the seven crisis intervention homes in the San Diego area were difficult to get and that we needed to call every morning to check on availability.  Lezlie was told that one of the best was called Del Sur Treatment Center.  We were told to try again on Monday.  In the meantime Kevin was released from the hospital on Friday morning.  I don’t know what time he started drinking again but when we talked with him Friday night he was drunk and refused to stop drinking.  Saturday was the same, only worse.  He was very intoxicated.  We talked with him many times that day trying to convince him to stop drinking.  And he would not tell me where he was parked because he was afraid I would call the police.  I couldn’t call the police because that was certain probation violation and a return to jail for many more months if not years…I couldn’t do that to Kevin.  If he ended up back in jail it would be his doing, not his parents.  What a gut-wrenching experience this was.

It was Saturday, August 12.  I didn’t know what to do for Kevin, but I couldn’t turn my back on him either.  My son needed help but I didn’t know how to help him.  So I felt to call and talk to Darren…I knew he had dealt with a similar situation many years ago and I was hoping to get some counsel from him.  We spoke for probably 20 minutes, hung up, and about ten minutes later Jodi and Darren called saying that Jodi was going to drive to California to help Kevin and was trying to figure out a place to stay.  Geoff and Lezlie were also on the call with Geoff trying to find a hotel for Jodi and Kevin until we could find a safe place for him to go. Jodi started for California within the hour Saturday afternoon.  We figured that she would get to him by about 11:00 that night.  So we kept calling Kevin and talking with him telling him Jodi was on the way. She was smart enough to have him text her a map of where his truck was parked before he passed out or worse.  Probably around 10:00 Kevin called and said, “Mom I think I’m dying and I just want you to know I love you.” I knew that Jodi was within a short distance from him and was anxiously awaiting her phone call when she got to him.  Finally it came.  He was very intoxicated, but he was alive. 

The emotional roller coaster that week was intense, and the whole time Ken and I had traveling to do and classes to teach all over our mission area.  It was probably good to be so busy with our calling, but in reality I just wanted the world to go away and let me be able to do something for my son.  It was very hard to keep pressing forward in our missionary assignment.  In my studying one day I read something that President Faust taught regarding the bitter cup that Christ was given to drink in the Garden, “Every soul has some bitterness to swallow…there comes a time when one must accept the situation as it is and reach upward and outward.  The Savior set the compass.”  The sorrow and broken heart I had for Kevin’s sake was a very bitter cup to drink and I had been reaching upward to my Heavenly Father for years that Kevin would choose sobriety.  But we had been set apart as full-time missionaries and given the opportunity to reach outward to our brothers and sisters in the Cuernavaca Mission area to teach them self-reliance principles.  We had to press forward, and I was grateful to be busily engaged while Heavenly Father was busily engaged working miracles for Kevin.  He had sent angels to minister to my son…perhaps Ken and I were His angels for someone in Mexico.  We were promised in the blessing we received from our Stake President when we were set apart to be full-time missionaries that our family would be blessed as we served and we have seen this promise fulfilled for several of our children and grandchildren.

Jodi opened the door of his truck and said, “Brother, wake up.”  His eyes popped right open.  Of course, she didn’t know what she was going to find when she found him either and was relieved to have him respond to her voice.  She got him into her car and to the hotel and to safety that night.  Around 1:30 Kevin woke Jodi up.  He was experiencing DT’s and she later told us he was like a caged animal, pacing the room, scratching down the walls, pulling at the window curtains, hallucinating.  She tried to get him to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t calm down and became more agitated.  At 4:30 Jodi decided it was time to get him to the hospital for help that was beyond what she could do for him.  The doctor gave him Librium to help with the withdrawal symptoms and she later took him back to the hotel where they both slept for the next several hours.

Jodi had called Robin, the doctor she works for, and explained that there was a family emergency and she had to leave town, but promised to return as soon as possible.  The question was when Jodi had to return home and to work where would Kevin go?  We knew he could not be alone, not in his condition, so Lezlie and Geoff started making plans for her to go to California and rent an apartment or find another option so she and Kevin could stay there until we could get him into a treatment center, which we were told normally had a waiting period of about two months.  At the same time Lezlie and I began the search for a treatment center that he could afford to pay for himself and which would have a positive impact on him and truly be of help.  The treatment center that we had helped him get into 2015 in Washington had been a waste of money and we couldn’t do that again.  He needed a treatment center that was really interested in helping him not just take our money, but where and how?  And there was additional pressure from his probation officer to get into treatment by September 13, which was his next appointment, but we knew it couldn’t be just any treatment center.  It had to be the right one, where Kevin would feel comfortable living and which would provide him with some structure and stability in his life.

 With these things in mine we both happened to find a place called Heartland House which had a sliding scale fee and seemed to have a good structure, allowing him to work during the day and have a safe place to go to at night to eat a good meal, sleep, and socialize with others, but at the same time receive some personal counseling, attend classes, and mandatory AA meetings during the week.  It seemed to be the perfect place for Kevin to provide the stability he needed.  The problem was it had a two month waiting list and he had to have a personal interview after being sober for 72 hours.  Monday morning came and I began calling the crisis intervention centers to find a short-term bed for Kevin.  Another tender mercy from the Lord and answers to prayers came when I called the highly recommended Del Sur, which did have a bed for him that afternoon.  Before he could check in though Jodi needed to get him to Heartland House to be interviewed for long-term residential treatment and be put on their waiting list and to DMV to get his truck registration reinstated, after finding him high-risk insurance.  He also needed to go the courthouse to do paperwork that was required by the probation officer.  And she spent time with Kevin going through all of his mail from the time he was in jail and helped him get his bills and legal matters organized and under control.  Heartland House required 72 hours of sobriety and it had only been a day and a half since his last drink but when I called to ask the manager of the House whether he could still come for an interview he decided that requirement could be waived, and after the interview agreed to put him on the wait list. 

In spite of driving from one end of San Diego to the other that day, they managed to get everything done and checked in at Del Sur on time that evening, August 14.  Since this place was only for short-term crisis intervention we had 10 – 14 days at the most to figure out where he would go once he was released, and the best option seemed to be to have Lezlie go ahead with plans to go to California and help him. As I was pondering on all of this the thought came to me, “be still,” and I knew the rest of it, “and know that I am God.”  Indeed, I had put my trust in God that he would help us to help Kevin and now I just needed to be still and let Him do what only He can do, as difficult as that was for me.  As I was telling Lezlie about this prompting she shared with us a dream she had in which Kevin was with her family and was asked to pray, which he did, and said “help me know if there ever was light and if there was help me find it again.” We both agreed that His tender mercies for Kevin were obvious and how grateful we were for the faith we had in Him.  We knew that God had answered our prayers and could open other doors for Kevin and prayed that He would continue to do so.  

Del Sur was truly a blessing as it gave Kevin a safe place to live, daily sessions with a therapist, a place to continue detoxing, and a little more time on the wait list for Heartland House.  Even though he had told Jodi that he wasn’t too excited about going to Del Sur, it had a calming influence on him and he liked the people there.  In fact, he told Jodi he was happy to be there.  He had a bed next to the window with a view of the hills and a fan blowing on his face, and he was not sleeping in his truck! 

The days at Del Sur were therapeutic for Kev and he seemed to be doing really well there but I was very concerned about getting him into a good treatment center after his bad experience at CRASH.   I was trying to “be still,” which didn’t mean to do nothing, but be still enough to continue to follow the promptings of the Spirit.  The manager at Heartland House had told Kevin that he should call every day to check in and let them know if he was still interested so his name wouldn’t get to the bottom of the stack, which he was doing. On Thursday of that week I decided to call the manager there to ask if there was any way Kevin could move up on the list, even if we had to pay the full fee to get him accepted, but the answer was no, we just needed to wait.  Kevin told us that he had a release date from Del Sur for the next week…time was running out to make decisions.  The next afternoon Kevin received a call from the manager of Heartland House telling him that there was a bed for him if he was still interested.  Of course, he was; it was what we had been praying for!  The manager then told Kevin that when a bed unexpectedly became available that morning he looked through the stacks of applications on the waiting list and called the first three men, all of whom did not answer the phone.  So he looked at Kevin’s application and was impressed that Kevin would be a good fit for the House and seemed to be anxious to be accepted, and, he said, he knew Kevin’s mom wanted him to be accepted, so he made the phone call to Kevin and given the opportunity to receive treatment there.  He would be admitted to Heartland House on Monday, August 21.  It was beyond any coincidence that Kevin was given the opportunity to live at the Heartland House…to be accepted in less than a week was totally unheard of, especially when he was told it could be as long as a two month wait.  God works in mysterious ways.

We knew that the first seven days at Heartland House would be a blackout period which means he could not leave the premises for any reason, but after that time period he would be free to go to work Monday through Friday and would be expected to attend mandatory AA meetings nightly at the House.  Another blessing was that Kevin qualified to receive food stamps for six months since he had been without any income for quite some time.  With the temporary help from the food stamps he could use this $200 to reduce his costs to stay at Heartland House to only $250 per month!  But Kev was anxious to get back to working, being physically active and productive.  He didn’t want to start looking for a job until he knew for sure when he would be able to start working.  We were both very surprised to learn after he checked in on Monday, August 21, that the blackout period did not include communication, in fact, he was allowed to use his phone and laptop, which made him very happy.  The blackout period was only that he could not leave the premises for the first 7 days.  So he summoned the courage to call his old boss, Mark Pollard, who also happens to be a member of the Church, to see if he might have work.  Mark was receptive to the call and agreed to meet with Kevin the following Monday to discuss it.    On August 28, they met and after discussing Kevin’s situation, which he was very open about, Mark offered him a job and asked him to start the next day, Tuesday! 

God had answered every single one of our prayers!  Every single one. Kevin has been blessed with everything he needs to become sober, productive, happy, and to have hope for a better future.  He was given another chance to live, to live free from alcohol.  It all began with the security guard who made the call to the find help and not punishment for him.  Heavenly Father guided us, Kevin’s family, to be a tool in His hand to bless our son, our brother, our uncle to keep him alive and to open doors of opportunity to him.  We continue to pray that he will make good choices, that he will get the psychological help he needs to allow his mind and heart to heal, and that the time, safety, and knowledge that the Heartland House is providing him to heal physically will give him a pathway to follow to sobriety and happiness. 

On Sunday, August 27, I was visiting with Kev on the phone, and it was really nice to know that he was sober, safe, and happy.  During that conversation I asked him if he could tell me three things he was grateful for.  Ken and I had watched a TED talk about healing your brain from alcohol abuse and suggested that one way to do so was to write down every day three things that you are grateful for…it helps your brain to start thinking positively and your soul to look for the good things in your life.  So that first Sunday in the Heartland House I asked him if he would tell me three things he was grateful for.  Without hesitation he said that a recurring thought he had was how grateful he was for his family and that he probably wouldn’t be here without them.  He was grateful to be sober.  And he was grateful for a place to live, and it wasn’t in his truck!  The following Sunday I received a text from him saying, “I feel good today mom.  Feels good to be sober.  Just wanted you to know.”  A tender mercy from the Lord.  It’s a blessing for Ken and I to know that our son, whom we dearly love, finally has a safe place to live, good food to eat, and has chosen sobriety…I pray daily that he will have the courage, the desire, and will receive the power from his Higher Power to stay on that path that will bless his life and help him understand his purpose for being on this earth.

October 8, 2017

October 8, 2017

This past week or so we visited Galeana, Chilpancingo, and Iguala and taught them apple muffins and peanut butter cookies.  Those people are so fun to be with because there’s a bunch of them who come to the classes and they seem to be really interested in learning.  And what’s even more exciting is that altogether we had seven investigators come to learn, some at each of the three classes.  Anyway, I have really grown to love these ladies…they’re so gracious and friendly and welcoming.  Pop always entertains them with his dry wit, and I guess I entertain them with my bad Spanish. 

While we were in Iguala one of the sisters told us about a man in the Huitzuco branch who had recently lost his job and didn’t know how he was going to provide for his family.  We had visited this branch about a month and a half ago and taught them, among other things, how to make Kettle Corn and banana bread muffins, but this is one group of people who really didn’t seem very interested in what we were teaching.  Along with cooking, we always emphasize the importance of self-reliance in case of JOB LOSS or an illness or accident which would prevent them from working, and try to give them a vision of what they could do with the skills we teach them.  In Mexico it’s extremely easy to start a business because there are no licensing requirements, no health department issues…everyone makes stuff at home and sells it on the street corners or sidewalks.   It’s what they do.  So, to continue my story, the sister who is telling us this story said that her husband is the High Council adviser to this branch and was aware of the man’s job loss AND aware that we had taught them, so he suggested that he start making Kettle Corn, bag it, and take it to the park to try to sell it.  What do you know…that’s what he did and sold everything he made.  Apparently he is making and selling the banana bread muffins also and is now able to support his family!  Isn’t that awesome.  We’re going back to Huitzuco in a couple of weeks and I’m anxious to be able to talk with him, AND teach them some other recipes.

Another sister in Iguala brought to the class a bunch of stuff that she had made (I’ll attach a photo of her).  She was so proud of herself, and so was I!  Her cinnamon rolls looked better than mine!!  No kidding.  I have to say, though, that the banana bread didn’t taste that great, but she thinks it did.  I’m certain she substituted plantano for the sweet and moist bananas which we told them not to do, but they’re cheaper.  What matters is what she thinks about them.  She also loves using the cardboard food dehydrator Dad taught them how to make and use and brought a couple of bags of dried apples.  It’s so fun seeing these people just trying to improve their standard of living and those who do try, have been successful.

One more update on our Hermana Eugenia from Pinotepa (actually, I hope there’s many more!).  We spent the afternoon with President and Sister Avila last week who told us that while he was interviewing Eugenia to receive her temple endowment (she’s only been a member for a couple of years) she told him that her baking business has totally changed her life.  Not only did she earn enough money from her business to buy an oven, but was able to buy a brand new one AND 18 molds for breads and muffins.  It’s a commercial oven because she has dreams of having a pizzeria someday.  We were certain she had to buy a used oven because surely she couldn’t afford a new one, but somehow she did it!  She told President that she went to the store to find out how much the oven she wanted was going to cost and kept watching it and when it went on sale, she bought it!!  She’s asked me a couple of times for a pizza recipe, but I don’t do homemade pizza….so if anyone has a good one, please send it to me.  I know I’ve talked a lot about Eugenia, but Dad and I are so pleased to see her progress so much in such a short time.  When we saw her in Pinotepa a couple of weeks ago, she couldn’t keep the big smile off her face, and her daughter also, who is learning right along with her mom.  The other part of her story is that it’s an 8 hour bus ride from Pinotepa to the temple and bus fare is not cheap for them, so she’s saving her money to go to the temple also.  She was sitting on the front row in the chapel last June during our last District Conference in Pinotepa where the topic was temple attendance.  Afterwards she showed me the notes she had taken and decided then that she was going to go to the temple…she was one who received a beautiful picture of the Oaxaca temple to hang in her house as a reminder.

We looked at our calendar and realized that we had to cancel five classes over the last month because of the earthquakes, one because of the danger from the cartel, and another for unknown reasons, so we are very happy to be busy again.  We have been blessed to teach, to travel safely, and to be healthy.  We love interacting with the people and the missionaries, and are so happy to be in Cuernavaca.  Although the cockroaches in the fridge are so very disgusting!  I’m not kidding…one day I opened the fridge door and where there was a gap in between the gasket and the metal door a cockroach family had moved in and had all kind of babies! We’ve tried everything to get rid of them but the only thing that work is Raid and I’m sure it’s killing brain cells!

We love you all.  And love serving the Lord.  

As you each meet life’s challenges that can be very daunting, discouraging, and difficult at times, the victory will go to the one who follows the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and chooses His way.

We love you all, and love serving the Lord.

Love, Mom, Non, Chrys   

I like this quote from Victor Frankl:

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."    

Photos 1 Hermana in Iguala who made a bunch of stuff, photo 2 my disgusting  refrigerator cockroaches

October 6, 2017

So as if this country hasn't had enough, we got a text from hermana Avila yesterday telling us the precautions to take, like stay in doors, because a volcano near Mexico City erupted!!  Unreal!  Oh, and we had to cancel plans for a cooking class in a remote Pueblo because the people there are fighting the cartel and it's too dangerous right now, especially since we're north Americans.  I feel sad for the people there who have to live in fear....can you even imagine.

September 29, 2017

So, what does this look like to you?

It's wheat grass!  Another experiment.  Supposed to be very healthy!  He's also sprouting wheat.  It's for salads, etc.  Dad read that sprouted wheat has 1200 times the nutrient value than the wheat kernel.  We had his sprouts on our salad last night and it was chewy and yummy.

These are his sprouts. 

September 24, 2017

These two ladies are the reason I came on my mission!  Both are from Pinotepa and we saw them today while visiting this area.  As soon as conference was over they both made a beeline for dad and I to tell us about their successful businesses.  Hermana Eugenia made enough profits to buy an oven (instead of using her neighbor's).  The other, Hermana Mayra, calls me mommy Meadows.  Both have taught their daughters to bake also, so we have the second generation started in business also!!!  It's pretty exciting for us to see how excited and happy they are about their successful businesses.

Hermana Mayra is expecting her sons mission call any day.  She can now support him on his mission with her bakery business!  By the way, missionaries from Mexico now have to pay their own mission costs, all of it, so now that family had a way to do it.  Way cool.

September 19, 2017

Yesterday we had an opportunity to go to a little Pueblo not far from here to help with the relief efforts with the rest of our mission.  This video is what is left of the Bishop's home in Jujutla.  He lost two family members in the collapse of their home.
They were killed in the collapse.  Only one of his children was able to get out before it completely collapsed.

September 19, 2017

Earthquake, 5.4 in Chiapas and 4.9 in Oaxaca today.

Our house shook pretty hard today.  That was a bit frightening.

Lots of damage in Cuernavaca.  It's chaos here.  We're in Cuernavaca but we're trying to get to a class in Tepoztlan, a little north of us.  Apparently downtown Cuernavaca buildings are damaged and everyone is trying to get out of there.  People everywhere on the streets.  I think they're afraid of their rickety houses.

We were told that an overpass on the freeway near us that was under construction partially collapsed, freeway south is closed.

Later that night:

We had a class tonight in a nearby town which took us 2.5 hours to get to!  The roads in the direction of the town were fine but when we got there the power was still out and so we turned around and came home. 

September 16, 2017

We're just finding out from president Avila how damaging hurricane Max was on Friday for our friends in Acapulco and the Pinotepa area.  Bridges and roads are wiped out and they are trying now to get food and supplies to our members in a tiny Pueblo along the coast.  We were in Acapulco last weekend when the earthquake hit further south.  So in one week Mexico has had an earthquake, hurricane Max with a direct hit to Acapulco, and hurricane Norma moving toward Los Cabos on the peninsula.  Rain from remnants of Harvey and Katia.  We have been blessed to keep out of harms way.  Some of what we are teaching is the importance of emergency preparedness in case of hurricanes or earthquakes and they kind of blow it off...unfortunately experience can teach some hard lessons.

September 15, 2017

OK, it's not a salmon and I didn't have to work for 15 minutes to reel it in, but it's one of the biggest cauliflowers I've ever seen!  This is from the mercado uptown

September 10, 2017

We were told today in church that some members were killed in the earthquake and many homes lost or damaged.  Stake president lost his home.  This is in Juchitlan where it was the worst.

September 8, 2017

Earthquake hits central Mexico, 8.1

We traveled to Acapulco last night kind of late, were dead tired, and apparently slept right through it.  I'm sure our friends in Pinotepa felt it.

From the maps of places affected it looks like Guatemala got hit also, many towns we visited and have friends in are nothing but rubble now.

The poorer the people the worse it is for them because their homes are put together with mud adobe and just crumble.

Where we live we get all the rain from the hurricanes on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides, so it's been raining cats and dogs for two weeks, hurricane Harvey, a tropical depression that moved up the Baja and Katia, and then the earthquake this morning.  The cartel is everywhere we travel.  We are definitely in the war zone!

September 5, 2017

Cameron is home from his mission!