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.