We went to work on the finishing touches for the final zone conference of the Mexico Veracruz Mission as we know it. We decided that it would be good for the missionaries to come together as one in a mission conference rather than the typical series of 8 zone conferences all around the mission. We knew that the missionaries would love to see their friends from the MTC's and from past experiences together in zones and districts, former companionships and trainers seeing how their new missionaries had grown up. There would be lots of picture-taking and hugging and crying and laughing. Besides that, it would be easier for us to say good-bye just once. You see, 73 of these missionaries head south to the new Villahermosa Mission and 118 remain with us in Veracruz. Most of them will not see one another again until the next life. One of the Mexican missionaries actually wrote that to me in his letter this week. "Hasta ver en el paraíso o el reino celestial!" "Until I see you in paradise or the celestial kingdom." He is very likely correct, if he makes it there. . . I mean, if I make it there.


One of the zone leaders, Elder Carter, called and suggested that we sing in the conference. So, we did that. Four elders and I sang, in three and one-half part harmony, a medley which we arranged. It went as follows: Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy (the mission hymn), first verse; "I Know that My Redeemer Lives," first verse; "Brightly Beams," second verse; "I Need Thee Every Hour," first verse; "Brightly Beams," last verse; tag, the last line of "I Need Thee." It worked.
Here we are practicing in the mission home: Elder Carter, Bakersfield; Elder Minetto, Tigurd, OR; Elder Bodine, Duncan, AZ; Elder Meza from Ciudad Juarez who is a mariachi singer, and Sis. Flores is at the piano.


Mom made almost 400 brownies to give to missionaries at the conference. Elder Holman from Tigurd, Oregon, and Elders Cifuentes, Yebra, and Amador, all from Mexico City.