Most of all I liked the baptismal service. We gathered inside the little chapel and sat in front of large fans. The temperature and humidity were both very high. There was a song and a prayer and a couple of talks. Then, we all walked a quarter of a mile down to the river. About 30 people were in attendance. The married couple were baptized in the river. One hundred feet downstream, a family was standing in the water doing their laundry. No big deal. In the group photo you can see the branch president, the older brother, and also the missionaries. They are Elder Cook from the Phildelphia area (Can you imagine that? From Philadelphia to Calichal!), and Elder Castellanos from Oaxaca. His cousin, a sister missionary was in the Veracruz Mission, but we moved her to the Villahermosa Mission not knowing of the family tie. The counselor and the missionary each performed an ordinance. Now the membeship of the Calichal Branch is 45--42 active.

We walked back to the church. We went into the chapel to wait while clothes were changed. Sitting on the sacrament table were refreshments to enjoy after the service ended. Can you guess what the refreshements were? A bag of those sugar wafer cookies you serve with ice cream and . . . a liter of Coca-Cola. Yup. No problem here in Mexico! I was afraid to take a picture of it, but it was very entertaining.


We waited for a long time. Then we realized that the poor guy who just got baptized was locked in the outhouse. We like Calichal.