1000 Days in Veracruz

2011-05-29T23:13:00.004-05:00

We stopped at a homemade potato chip stand in Piedras Negras. These things are really good, if you dump some salt on them, and are a guarantee for instant heartburn.

I asked the man and his sons who run the stand for a picture. This was it. Mexicans do not naturally smile for the camera. It is a genetic imposibility unless you beg them.

I begged. This is what I got. Maybe I should have tipped them a little more.

(If you want to see bigger smiles, click on the photo.)

2011-05-29T23:06:00.002-05:00

In Piedras Negras these two boys, about 10 or 12 years old, are gambling. Put your coin in the slot and hope that money falls off of the tray. I asked if they ever win. They said, "Of course! Why do you think we play?" Duh...

2011-05-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

We have often mentioned eating iguanas and other delights, but Leapin' Lizards! Can you imagine that creature on your plate? We were coming north along the coastal highway and I was watching for holes and bumps in the road when Mom hollared at me to look to the left. There it was! ("It" refers to all creatures in the picture.) This guy and his friend were selling, illegally of course, iguanas on the federal highway which courses the length of the Gulf of Mexico. He said the big one weighs about 4 kilos. I am sure that is true. We have never seen one even close to that big. Interesting that both the iguana and Iguana Man both comb their hair the same way.

2011-05-29T22:47:00.003-05:00

Elder Petersen is such a good boy and a fine missionary, but he is confused. In college sports he favors a school immediately north of Provo. His companion, Elder Hales, is a brilliant scholarship student at BYU and is also an outstanding missionary. By their apartment in Vega de Alatorre, there is a basketball court. For their morning excercise, they go out and shoot. They made a deal. If Elder Hales could beat Elder Petersen in H-O-R-S-E a certain number of times, Elder Petersen would have to stand by their little Christmas tree wearing Elder Hales' BYU football T-shirt and pose for a picture. Elder Petersen lost and is pleased to pose.

2011-05-29T22:43:00.002-05:00

These are those two generations with their respective trainers.

(Always click on the photo if you want to see it in a larger format.)

2011-05-29T22:39:00.002-05:00

In between all that excitement, a generation of five Mexican missionaries also came in. They are Hermana Moncayo and Elders Perez, Herrera, Zamora, Sanchez Soto, Garcia, and Cuevas.

2011-05-29T22:17:00.009-05:00

We were pretty excited to learn that more American missionaries were coming in. As you know, visas have been tough to get. Coincidentally, it seems to connect (or not) somehow to the news of the "Arizona Law," the one which is very offensive to Mexicans. Some of our missionaries from Arizona say that they are from Provo. One of them claims to be from Australia. Whatever.

There is a process to get a visa to Mexico. When a missionary opens his call packet, there is a goldenrod-colored sheet of paper which tells him to apply for his passport and visa immediately. He sends his paperwork to SLC. Missionary travel does the work with the Mexican government. Mexico issues a permiso which grants the Mexican consulate permission to create the visa for the missionary. Simple, right? Nope. Starting last July, the delay has been months. We had no visa waiters before that--four days was the longest delay. The Mexican consulate in SLC was ordered to issue only 15 visas a week. There were over 200 Mexico-bound Americans in US missions waiting to come to Mexico. At one point a couple of months ago we had 26 Americans waiting visas and assigned temporarily to missions in the USA. As a mission we fasted and prayed on fast Sundays. The missionaries started trickling in.

The Friday before Thanksgiving we still had 15 missionaries out there awaiting visas and one in the MTC. A mother of one of them, an Elder Gust, contacted us and wondered where she should send her son's Christmas package because he was in Albuquerque and they knew that he, and an Elder Ursua, had not yet received the permiso, the first step. WHAT? Everyone else had received the permiso months ago. On Monday I raised Holy Ned, as my mom used to say. (No, I don't have any idea who Ned is, nor do I know from whence or from what he needs be raised.)

My email was direct, detailed, and was copied to everyone I could think of in the Mexico Area Travel Office and Missionary Travel in SLC. One by one, the emails came in. They all said, "That is Roberto's deal." Roberto. That evening Roberto wrote me and said that the Mexico City Consulate promised him the two missing permisos on Thursday. I sent the report to SLC Travel. They said that is good, but these missionaries still won't arrive until February, January if they got lucky. That would give them 2 months in the MTC in Provo plus 5 months in a mission in the USA. Not acceptable!

We did all we could. That included prayer and asking our missionaries to pray.

We got this photo of all those missionaries from the mother who tipped us off. Elder Gust, whose mom provided us with the vital information, is second from the left. We put this color photo in the weekly mission announcements with the names of the missionaries below it and asked the missionaries to pray specifically that hearts would be softened in the consulate and that the miracle would happen. Mom told the missionary mom to ignore what travel was saying and send Christmas to Veracruz. We believed that they would come.

The permisos were granted on Thanksgiving Day. The Monday after, I called travel in SLC and pleaded with them to put these two missionaries, Elders Ursua and Gust, in the same travel group with their district. If not, the missionaries would go to the bottom of the stack of 200+ for who knows how long? My contact in missonary travel did that.

On Friday the 10th of December at 10 p.m., Elder Ursua, one who had neither a permiso nor a visa until Thanksgiving Day, arrived at Veracruz International. He came with Elder Ioane who was serving in Los Angeles. They have been out of the MTC for 11 weeks. Now they are very happily here. You see Elder Ioane in the photo with two of the office elders. He is kinda tall, huh? He is 6'7", size 17 shoes, and lost 70 pounds in Los Angeles.

All at the same time, sorta, we got news that Elder Gust and the other five visa-waiters had appointments at the SLC Mexican consulate. We picked them up at 11:00 p.m. at the airport, five days after the others arrived. They are Elders Neves, Harmon, Bartolomei, Nartker, Vaughan, and Gust.

What has happened was impossible. It was a miracle. Faith and works work.

2011-05-29T22:08:00.002-05:00

Elders Martinez and Castellanos baptized this husband and wife in the river near Misantla. There is not a baptismal font.

Then, Elder Martinez slipped and fell.

Afterwards, they strolled down the road together, happy and oblivious to the fact that people were changing clothes behind them obscurred (on one side, at least) by a blanket.

2011-05-29T21:36:00.003-05:00

We have talked about the various celebrations of the virgin. One is in Piedras Negras, a little town where we have a branch. It is about 90 minutes outside of Veracruz. The entire town turns out for this. They decorate all the streets downtown. Countless streets are covered with colored sawdust. There are many designs. Some are Christmas trees, some are camels and wise men, others are of a "virgin," and others of depictions of the several the so-called "stations of the cross" depicting steps along the way toward the Crucifixion. Bags of sawdust are delivered to almost every house in the town. The residents are responsible to color the sawdust. They they gather and decorate the streets. There is a float prepared with real flowers. At 8 p.m. on the 8th of December a procession begins at that Catholic Church. All the people walk in the streets singing and chanting. They gather at the Christmas tree downtown. Babies are blessed at midnight.

In the meantime, Mormon missionaries Buenfil and Ramos press on.

2011-05-29T21:23:00.001-05:00

Poor little guy. This little boy was in trouble with his grandma. She tied him to the window so that he couldn't go out and play--so that he would serve his sentence. The missionaries snapped the picture. I think he could have untied himself if he really wanted to.

This reminds me of my mom telling us of Aunt Eva tying cousin Brucie Tall, as Mom called him, to the clothesline so that he wouldn't go out on the highway to stop cars and beg money.

2011-05-29T20:00:00.002-05:00

The picture is of Elder Apaza, a Bolivian, and Elder Coffin who is a Samoan. They had been teaching the family of the man in the back. His daughter had been baptized. His wife was ready, but wanted to be baptized with him. The problem was that he really did not want to listen with his heart. One day the wife called the missionaries. She asked them to meet her at the hospital. Her husband had suffered a stroke. When they arrived they found him completely paralyzed on one side. The doctors had told the family not to expect the man to walk again and if he could it would be at least a year before they should expect any change.

The young elders offered the man a blessing. He agreed. They explained to him the sacred nature of what they were about to do and the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood. He asked that the blessing might proceed.

The man was anointed with consecrated oil by Elder Coffin. The blessing was sealed by Elder Apaza. He was promised that he would heal and walk. The next day he did so. Now, he listened to the missionaries with a sincere interest. He walked into the baptismal font. His arm is not completely healed, but the miracle happened.

Elder Apaza is almost 19 years old and comes from a totally inactive family. His prayer is that because of his faithful service that his family will reactivate themselves and those who are not members will listen to the missionaries. Elder Coffin is a member for two years plus a little and came here speaking very little English, but talking often of his "faif in Jesus Christ." Faif is his favorite American word, I think.

2011-05-29T19:34:00.004-05:00

Sis Flores and Sis Carrillo were working in their area, Jardín Branch, San Andrá Tuxtla. They had been in the area only a couple of weeks. They were each contacting people in the street. Sis Flores said that they were about a meter apart. Someone yelled at her, "Hey are you the elders?" She said that she said, "No, we are elderas!"-- but she was joking . . . I think. The man said that a few weeks ago that "boy elders" had been teaching him but that the had not seen them for a while. He said that he needed to be baptized and so did his three grandsons. So, the "elderas" taught them. They were all baptized together. The older young man is preparing to serve a mission and he was the desiganted baptizer.

2011-05-29T19:16:00.002-05:00

Elders Hales and Petersen baptize in a river near Vega de Alatorre on December 11, 2010.

2011-05-29T19:14:00.001-05:00

Elder Marín closed his kitchen remodeling business to come on a mission at age 25. He is a fine missionary. This is one of his first converts in the Cazones Branch.

2011-05-29T19:08:00.004-05:00

The other really fun and creative thing they did was paint the street. Note that one crosswalk leads into our garage, which is never open. And one of the arrows suggests to the inebriated driver that it is okay to drive right into the house through our front door. So far, the drunken drivers are more in touch with reality than the street painters.

2011-05-29T19:01:00.005-05:00

One day the city, Boca del Rio, paved the street in front of the mission home. The next day they dug up the cement manhole covers. Metal ones would be taken and sold as scrap metal. The cement manhole covers sat for days, but the city was good enough to mark them and warn us so that we wouldn't run over them or drive into the abyss.

This one, warning of danger 300 meters away, was particularly effective.

2011-05-29T18:50:00.003-05:00

Elder Sergio Luis Hernandez Gallo (gallo means rooster) is our Area Seventy. He lives in Tijuana. One Sunday he came to Veracruz and we gave him a whirlwind tour of Los Tuxtlas including stopping by the Jardín Branch where he met the elders quorum president Bro. Cruz, branch president Eloy Camacho, and Sisters Carrillo y Flores.

2011-05-29T18:40:00.003-05:00

Missionaries like their lizards. This appears to be the same iguana in Isla. Elder Moro is the missionary with glasses and is about 6 feet tall. Elder De La Rosa is the missionary who makes the iguana look even bigger.

2011-05-29T18:30:00.004-05:00

Temazcal, which translates from Mazateco to Baño de Vapores, which translates from Spanish to steam bath, has been featured in earlier blog posts. So has Bishop Bruno Hernandez, who is a baker. Elders Alavez and Serna gathered with the bishop and some ward members at the river for a baptismal service on December 4th. We don't know the story of the baptism but love the picture.

2011-05-28T15:24:00.003-05:00

These are the Meza Brothers from Ciudad Chihuahua. The younger one, in front of Mom, started his mission in the Tampico Mission but was assigned to Veracruz when the mission division took place in July of 2010. There are three Meza Brothers serving at the same time. Their father died just before they left. They are supported by their widowed mom. The older, and veteran Veracruzano, was a Mariachi singer before he came on his mission. He can really belt it out!

2011-05-28T15:21:00.002-05:00

This is the entire Misión México Veracruz in a glance. We bring all the missionaries into Veracruz at Christmas for a zone conference and then they go through the temple. (You can click on the photos to see your favorite missionary up close.)

2011-05-28T15:05:00.003-05:00

Mom and I stopped by the temple for some official business. We realized that some of our converts were being sealed that day. In fact, three couples from the Sihuapan Branch and four from San Andres branches were doing being sealed. So, we went in and witnessed some of them. It was quite a wonderful and spiritual experience. One of the very nice things that happened that day was that two of our returned missionaries were also there, Elder Hernandez Camacho and Elder Perez Segovia. The lady in the picture is a doctor. Her name is Leyva. She was baptized by Elder Perez along with her husband about 16 months earlier. He is also in the picture. Doctora Leyva was the physician who helped Elder Hernandez through a bout with dengue fever.

This post is the last of November, 2010.

2011-05-28T15:01:00.002-05:00

In later September, we ordered the annual BYU Football T-shirt. They arrived just in time for Thanksgiving. The office elders, on their preparation day, had donned them and were outside the offices playing football when we pulled in. They are always willing to pose. They are Elders Goodworth, Bodine, Castro, Canseco, Checketts, and Regalado.

2011-05-28T14:52:00.005-05:00

We really like Elder Checketts. He came to the mission from Hyrum, Utah. He thinks he is not a BYU fan, but a fan of the other school just to the north. He is a bit confused, but is maleable. Our daughter, Jane, sent us a great Christmas package which included BYU Cougar license plates. Elder Checketts is in charge of materials which includes the two mission vehicles and, obviously, their license plate holders. So, here he is removing the apparatus from the mission president's van and putting on a true license plate holder.

We are all happier now.

2011-05-28T14:45:00.006-05:00

This is our Thanksgiving turkey. Elder Watkins did not execute it. We bought frozen from Costco. Mom noticed the labeling and we had a laugh. It advertises that this turkey is double-breasted. We have not noticed too many single-breasted ones.

This was the result. We invited the office elders to dinner, on Mom's Spode, along with Hermana Queta who has worked in the mission offices for years doing laundry and cooking for the missionaries. Hermana Marquez, who helps at the mission home, and her husband also came. It is funny to watch Mexicans try to figure out what to do with gravy. Some love it, and others really don't. Not hot enough, I guess.

2011-05-28T14:41:00.003-05:00

Elder Hales is from Minden, Nevada. His trainer is Elder Petersen from Salt Lake. They were the first missionaries ever officially assigned to the new branch which is located in Vega de Alatorre. This is one of their first converts. The ordinance was performed in this bay of which is fed in one end by a river and it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

2011-05-28T14:35:00.002-05:00

Sometimes when missionaries arrive their hair is a little too pointy, So I always try to make it a little flatter from the outset.

These two American elders arrived in the night after having spent a couple of months in the Pocatello, Idaho Mission waiting for their visas. They are pictured with their trainers. They are Elders Ruiz E., Morgan (from Kaysville), Knight (from Orem), and De Jesus.

2011-05-28T14:28:00.004-05:00

We gathered with the Los Tuxtlas Zone for a special zone class in Santiago Tuxtlas. After the class we went to the town square for a quick photo of them in front of the world's largest Olmec Head. It is ancient dating back to around 1600 B.C.

The missionaries are Hermanas Flores y Carrillo, and Elders Ricks, Gonzalez Ochoa, Dominguez, Schilhabel, Linares, Moro, Gunther, Clutter, Castillo, Moa, De La Rosa, Amador, and Butterfield. (You can always click on the photo for a larger view.)

2011-05-28T14:27:00.001-05:00

Elders Rider and Courtright, both from the Salt Lake Valley, are happy to have a clean new apartment, a new fan, and especially a new mattress while serving in Santiago Tuxtlas.

2011-05-28T14:20:00.003-05:00

The missionaries went into Los Tuxtlas on November 17th. On November 20th was the first baptismal service. These sisters had been going to church for awhile and just needed to be invited to baptism. When invited, they gladly accepted. Elder Butterfield is a new missionary, now 6 days into his mission. He is from Wisconsin. The other two are the zone leaders who trained him, Elders Amador from Querétaro and Schilhabel from Bakersfield.

2011-05-28T14:13:00.004-05:00

Missionaries get excited to do things they don't do at home--especially the North American missionaries. Elder Watkins is from Arizona. This is a couple of days before Thanskgiving. Mexicans don't really celebrate Thanksgiving, but they have the general idea; kill and eat a turkey. They love to make the missionaries happy. Elder Watkins is happy. He gets to help prepare the meal. Get it?

A few minutes later the scrawny bird is progressing toward the festive feast. One of our missionaries actually butchered a cow for an investigator on preparation day. (He was a butcher before his mission.) Fortunately, he did not send us pictures.

2011-05-28T14:07:00.002-05:00

Sometimes a missionary and his companion get to fill a baptismal font by carrying water a bucket at a time. Elder Gonzalez Pescador is doing that.

Then get get to baptize. This one was in the Reserva Ward in Veracruz. It is a relatively new building, but water is not always available.

Then, sometimes they get to empty the font a bucket at a time because the drainage system is plugged up. Elder Martinez Dominguez is anxiously engaged doing so.

2011-05-28T14:04:00.002-05:00

Elders Lopez and Merino are helping a couple get married in Xalapa.

A couple of hours later, they helped the new bride get baptized.

2011-05-28T13:58:00.003-05:00

Back at the office, our materials secretary, Elder Checketts, had ordered a shipment of Book of Mormons. This is only ten of the thirty cases he ordered. You can fit 36 of the Spanish edition in one case. We go through them pretty fast. We are trying to flood the mission with the Book of Mormon.

The missionaries are Elders Checketts, Bodine, Regalado, Canseco, Castro, y Goodworth.

2011-05-28T13:47:00.006-05:00

After our meeting with the local leadership, we took the missionaries to our favorite memela restauarante, La Encantada.

A memela is a large quesadilla. The best part is the huge corn tortilla, handmade. It is filled with stretchy white cheese, probably Oaxacan, and your choice of meats--carne asada, alhambra which is also beef, cochinita pibíl which is pulled pork Mexican style and really delicious and messy, or chicharrones which are slimy pig skin/fat. The food is excellent and very economical.

The missionaries were are starving, as always, and very happy, as almost always.
(You can always click on the photo to enlarge it.)

Elder Moa from Hawai'i had been in the mission for two days. This was his first of many memelas.

2011-05-08T21:22:00.010-05:00

Remember? On the First of July our mission was divided. Five stakes and our beloved Los Tuxtlas District were used to form the northern half of the new Villahermosa Mission. On September 6th, Mom and I were in Mérida at a Mission President's Seminar. We walked into the dinner on the first evening and Elder Octaviano Tenorio, counselor to the Mexico Area President, immediately approached me. He privately and quietly asked if I would be willing to receive Los Tuxtlas back into the Veracruz Mission. I almost yelped with joy! That meant yes.

A few minutes later, Elder Benjamin De Hoyos asked me the same question. Within 5 minutes, Elder Daniel Johnson, the Area President grabbed me and signaled over his two counselors and Pres. Nicolas Castañeda, president of the Villahermosa Mission. We stood in front of the buffet table. Everyone else was feasting so we didn't even have to talk softly. Elder Johnson asked if we two were willing to apply for a change of mission boundaries. I asked that Pres. Castañeda speak first and he said that it would be a good idea. I then began to do cartwheels and handsprings.

Mom and I could talk with no one about this until it was approved by SLC. It is a process. In the second week of November, Elder Tenorio called and told me that the boundary revision was a go. I picked team of very good missionaries to go to Los Tuxtlas. We called our old friends there, the district president and others, and we arranged a meeting for Thursday, November 18th.

The local members in the foto are, Hno. Cruz standing by me, 1st Counselor to the District President Moguel on the end, and kneeling left to right, Hna. Camacho, Jardín Branch President Camacho, 2nd DP Counselor Josué Vazquez, Dist. Pres. Hector Hernandez, RM Chagala.

We loaded up everyone's luggage in a huge panel van, crammed bodies into the two mission vans, and put overflow missionaries on the bus headed south. We met, prayed, sang, introduced, shared testimonies, handed off cell phones, and got missionaries to their apartments. Then they went to work.

The missionaries are Elderes Goodworth, Linares, Gonzalez Ochoa, Schilhabel, Clutter, Amador, Courtright, Moro, Castillo, Rider, Moa, Butterfield, Gunther, Ricks, Dominguez, De La Rosa, Canseco, and Sisters Flores and Carrillo.

2011-04-03T22:11:00.003-05:00

Two days after the burglary we received five motivated missionaries from the USA. They are Elders Butterfield, Moa (a Hawaiian who brought a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts--I like him a lot), Thomson, Rider, and Buck.

Here they are the next day complete with their trainers and new mission ties.

2011-04-03T22:06:00.002-05:00

At least they didn't take my Einstein in his BYU colors.

The FM men secured our front door, see the photo, with a ladder, a step stool, and some banquet tables. Clever design, huh?

The next morning they came and constructed a really good lock system.

2011-04-03T21:55:00.002-05:00

We returned from those trainings in Papantla at about 9:30 at night. Something was very weird when I walked into the house ahead of Mom who was gathering stuff from the minivan.

The kitchen door which leads to the garage was wide open. The pantry door in the kitchen was also hanging open. I thought it very weird that Hermana Marquez, who helps us with the house, would leave door open. The garage is behind an electric garage door, so it was no big deal, but still, is was very odd and my neck hairs started to stand on end.

I walked to the stairs to drop off my first load of stuff--my laptop and camera bag. The front door was ajar. It was open about an inch. There was a light on upstairs. I could see the glow from the bottom of the staircase. I checked the door and saw that the lock had been destroyed. Mom was just coming into the kitchen from the garage. Neck hairs now standing at full alert, I hollared at her to get into the van fast. She did not argue. Wasn't that nice of her?

I quickly backed out of the garage and told her that we had been burglarized. I was not certain that the house was empty. We were now parked down a street perpendicular to the front of the mission home. Mom mentioned that she was so glad that we had taken our laptops with us when we left town. Laptop. Dang! It was sitting inside the house on the stairs.

I drove back into the garage and hustled in, grabbing the laptop and the camera bag. Yes, my neckhairs returned to full attentive status. I would have felt much better with a baseball bat in my hand.

We returned to the surveillance point where I began making phone calls. Protocal is to contact the Area Presidency. No one answered. I called the Church attorney in Mexico. No answer. I continued to try to talk with someone. I needed to verify local area policy. The policy is that when something like this happens, we don't call the police. There is an abundance of corruption. Some say that you don't really know whom to trust. So, we don't call the police because one or more of them may be involved.

In the meantime, I got to the regional FM (Facilities Management) supervisor, who was called to be a stake president last week. He sent help. I got through to Elder Tenorio of the presidency who verfied that we do not talk to the police but that the new Church security guy would call me.

Within 20 minutes FM man Mariano showed up and right after him, Abel. We went into the house. As we were entering Benigno and Luis arrived with another fellow I didn't know. We searched the house thoroughly and no one was inside. But, someone surely had been.

The upstairs, where we spend all our time, was ransacked. It was a fairly orderly ransacking with no vandalism. Having been on the scene of a few hundred burglaries, I have certainly seen much worse. It is obvious that the burglar(s) was looking for things easy to carry. Dang it! Why didn't he take our dinky little TV? We could use something a lot bigger. That is for sure.

The saddest news is that they took Mom's jewels. She doesn't have too many, but what she has all have a story to tell: her cartouches from Egypt; my grandma's real gemstone (I don't know what type of stone they were) earrings that Dad gave to her; a turquoise necklace I bought her in Albequerque on an IACP Convention at a time when we really didn't have any money; her pearls which I bought at an drug seizure auction in Cedar and had Wayne Clark string--I think they are the ones our daughters wore at their weddings; things with more sentimental value than dollar value.

They also took a nice ancient Mayan "piece" I had aquired. It was wrapped up in a cloth in the bottom of my underwear drawer. But, the underwear all ended up on the floor, so it was stolen--that and Mom's iPod which was in her little desk with all her Spanish gospel stuff on it (maybe they will listen and get baptized. . . maybe not) and our Wii including the Mario Brothers Go-cart discs and steering wheels. We haven't even looked at those since Christmas week.

There are a couple of important points:
1) We are safe and feel very protected, even directed. When we stopped by the mission offices on Friday night on the way home, I picked up a basketball and shot for maybe 10-15 minutes with the office elders who were just coming home. I think that I have not ever done that. We are always tired at that time of day and are trying to find our way home to bed. We have deduced that the little creeps (not the missionaries) had just left or that we interrupted them as we came into the garage. They went out the front door, the same way they came in.
2) This has nothing to do with the violence that you read about and see in the US news. That is all very true and very bad, but it is all way north of us. That does not mean that there is no crime or violence in Veracruz. Of course not! I am not yet that naive. But, this was a random home burglary and one which could happen anywhere.

2011-04-03T20:10:00.001-05:00

This Totonaca man walks across the Papantla town square in traditional garb. The men all wear these outfits. He strolled past a statue which, I suppose, is a monument to how life really is in these parts. Click to enlarge and you will see the statutes better.

2011-04-03T20:08:00.001-05:00

This man is an example of another reason we encouraged (with the threat of death if they did) not to drink.

2011-04-03T20:02:00.004-05:00

Papantla is the home of the voladores, flyers. The tradition started here some centuries ago with the indigenous Tetonaca people. The pole is 30 meters tall, I think. Between the pole and the church you see a huge cement monument of a man playing a flute as he points it skyward. It is a monument to the flautist who sits on top of the pole and plays. Sometimes he will stand and dance while the four voladores "fly" downward, upside down, attached at the waist with a rope. There is no other harness. They are summoning rain for the vanilla and other crops. They work for tips.

2011-04-03T19:59:00.001-05:00

Elder Zárate baptized this family a little over a year ago and was able to attend their sealing in the Veracruz Temple. Many of our missionaries have experienced this grand blessing.

2011-04-03T19:57:00.001-05:00

Elder Ramirez. These are here just to make you laugh. I don't know if the missionary is mimicking the rooster or if the rooster is mimicking the missionary.

2011-04-03T19:53:00.003-05:00

Poor little Elder Petersen. He got some kind of a weird jaundice problem which no one ever really figured out. He was pretty sick for several days and we actually brought him and his companion into the office so that Mom could keep a close eye on him. He was basically all better and then got hives! Poor kid! But, his kind companion, Elder Hales, was charitable enough to apply non-itch cream where Elder Petersen couldn't reach.

2011-04-03T19:50:00.002-05:00

Elder Marin, a new missionary, and Elder Hernandez his trainer walk to an appointment in the evening. They are in the little coastal pueblo, Cazones near Poza Rica.

2011-04-03T19:41:00.005-05:00

The very next after the other very next day was November 11th. We had scheduled a Preach My Gospel Leadership Training for about 50 missionaries. We do them in two locations to cut down on time lost in missionary travel.

Part of the training is that we spend about 50% of the time in role plays, practicing how to teach the gospel. Doing that are Elders Castañeda, Goodworth, Bullock, Lopez, and Lozano.

The interesting distraction that day is that directly through the partition was a funeral. (We scheduled the building first!) When someone dies here they put them in the casket and then have an all day and half the night "viewing." They are always closed casket because the don't embalm here. The burial is always done within 24 hours.

2011-04-03T19:38:00.001-05:00

The very next day, the 9th of November was zone leader council in the mission offices.

2011-04-03T19:30:00.005-05:00

On Sunday, November 7th, we were in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca at a stake conference. En route, I got a phone call from a stake president in Guadalajara who said that a missionary from Aguascalientes was arriving in our mission the next morning. You figure it out. I couldn't. These cities are hundreds of miles apart. So, that night I called Elder Butler from Tucson who was a district leader and working with Elder Ricks from Texas to give them the good news that they would be training starting the next morning. They were thrilled at the chance! We met Elder Hernandez who is from Aguascalientes but who came in from Guadalajara, not the
MTC-Mexico, at the Veracruz Airport. We put him right to work. He is a really good missionary who is working hard and having success. His Spanish is better than mine and so is his English.

Oh dear. I wonder if I am in trouble for posting this photo.

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Elders Taufa and Cabacungan work in the hurricane-hit pueblo, Cardel. They found a girl named Diana Elibeth Montes Landa who wanted to be taught the gospel. She is a deaf/mute. But, as so many missionaries here have done, they set out to teach her my drawing pictures and making up hand signals. Elder Taufa claims to know a little sign language, but she doesn't speak English. Time progressed and she received a spiritual witness that the Church is true. It was time for her baptismal interview. I told them that I would love to do it. Mom took these pictures of us during the interview. Diana is a sweet girl with a great smile.

I don't know what was do dang funny, but I guess we were having a good time.

Here is Diana with her missonaries, Elders Cabacungan (Carlsbad, CA) and Taufa (Mesa, AZ), after the interview--all smiles.

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This man and his wife were baptized in Tierra Blanca. Their English, especially his, is outstanding. He lived in the United States for many years. He went to church with members often and always enjoyed it. While there, someone forgot to invite him to talk with missionaries. One day, shortly after he returned to Tierra Blanca, Elders Gutierrez and Nelson (from Mesa, AZ) found him. The family was baptized very soon thereafter.

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Here they go! The November missionaries wrap it up and are headed for home early this November morning. They are Hermanas Pech, Anguiano,and Frausto, Elders Muñoz, Pérez, Caballero, Sosa, Redfern, Rosales, Gaxiola, Cifuentes, Haro, y Contreras.

They look ready to go don't they? Sisters Frausto and Anguiano, Elders Haro and Cifuentes.

Their shoes looked pretty good, except for Elder Redfern who usually didn't get around to that part. But, what a missionary! I would trade shiny shoes anytime for missionaries like he was. The sisters usually buy new ones to wear home. They love their high heels.

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Bauti-strito Tierra Blanca! The bautistrito is when every companionship in the district baptizes in the same week. Elders Poe, Gutierrez L, Hunt, Tovar, Nelson, and Resendez did it. The man in the back with the goatee stands by his wife. He went to church in Utah for a long time. Nobody invited him to be baptized.

Tierra Blanca means White Earth. It isn't. But the climate is white hot. They have nicknamed the area la novia del sol, or, girlfriend of the sun. The name is very well-deserved out there. The missionaries cool down by baptizing.

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While we waited for their plane to come in, Elders Holman and Checketts worked on their Spanish.

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Missionaries keep on coming. This is the generation of November 1, 2011. They are la Hermana Morales, Elders Resendez, Rogel, Lastra, Solomon, Marin, Alavez, and Hernandez.

Here they are with their trainers.

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Elders Gil, Taufa, and Cabacungan had an investigator in Cardel. Mom and I went with them to visit. This is the town hit hardest by the front of Hurricane Karl. The flooding after the hurricane was incredible. You can see the "bathtub ring," the high water mark, on the wall. Elder Gil, the tallest of the missionaries is about six feet tall. The amazing thing is that this house sits three full blocks from a now dry riverbed and it at least fifteen feet higher than the riverbank. The cement house was not damaged. The people knew what might be coming and evacuated in time. Just say "no" to post-hurricane flooding.

This post marks the last one for the month of October, 2010.

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Elders Vargas and Redfern worked for six weeks and finally baptized their first convert in Teteles. Elder Frey, a new missionary from Utah, arrived just in time to participate.

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On October 24 we received a shipment of wonderful missionaries. They are Elders Anderson, Hales, Barnes, Ponstler, Zoltz, Jerrett, Cabacungan, Vaa'i, Frey, and Senior.

Here they are with their trainers.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

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Remember that little branch we created in Paso del Toro on Sept 12th? Mom and I went to church out there a month later. Their little house of prayer has room for maybe 20 people. They crammed in 43. Ten of them were these investgators. The missionaries are Elders Dominguez and De Jesus.

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This is part of a letter from Elder Holman who is from Tigurd, Oregon. He has been serving as secretary to the president and after this baptism went out to be a district leader in Tuxpam.

"Last Saturday was the baptism of Rodolfo. I have been waiting 5 months for this baptism. Rodolfo came to church with his cousin Sandy (the one in the pink and black shirt) back in April. He came two weeks in a row and we went to go visit him. He accepted the baptismal date in the first lesson and was really excited to get baptized. However, he is under age and his mom wouldn't give permission. He kept coming to church every now and then but just recently started to come on his own and more frequently. We kept visiting him and teaching him to prepare him for baptism. We always had it in mind that we needed to talk to his mom and get permission. Well, the Friday that the hurricane came into town, the back part of their house flooded and the power went out so they couldn't use their pump to get the water out. Elder Canseco and I, Elder Campos and Elder Ray started hauling the water out with buckets. We didn't lower the water much but we were willing to help. The monday after the hurricane is when the new missionaries got here. Elder Canseco went with one of them to go see Rodolfo. It just so happens that his mom was there. Elder Canseco talked with her and explained the Restoration and that we have been preparing a baptism for her son for five months and before you know it, we got her signature on the form.

So Saturday we had the baptism. It was just the bishop and Rodolfo's family there but that is all who needed to be there. We had the opening song and prayer (offered by Sandy). I gave just a quick little talk and we followed with the ordinance. Before entering the water I asked Rodolfo what he was feeling. He told me that he was feeling good and he knew that this is what he should be doing. I had the wonderful opportunity to perform the ordinance. After it was done, I asked Rodolfo how he was doing. He told me that he felt emocionante. He felt good. He felt at peace. After we changed clothes, Sandy spoke a few words. As soon as she started to speak, I started to tear up and she started to cry. You could feel the spirit so strong in that room. It was one of the greatest services that I have had the joy of seeing. It was kind of a bittersweet moment. I was happy that I was baptizing, that I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary but I was sad that I don't have much more time left to do it."

Elder Holman went home in January. Like him, Mom and I are sad that we will one day have to leave this mission. We love it like nothing we have ever done. In spite of opposition and challenges, there is nothing like seeing obedient missionaries grow and develop and put themselves into the position to be able to receive rewards for their good works.

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Elder Roberts of the SLC area and Elder Lopez work in Xalapa. The picture is of a true convert whom they recently baptized. This is the story. A few months ago this young lady, who is an attorney, was taught by missionaries in Papantla. It didn't take. She kept and read the Book of Mormon, however. After time, she had completed the book. She prayed about it and about the truth of the gospel. The Lord answered her prayer. She knew it was true and desired a baptism. She now lived in Xalapa.

After having received an answer to her sincere prayer, she immediately set out to find a chapel and missionaries to help her. It was general conference Sunday. Church was held in only one chapel that day in this city of 500,000. There are four LDS chapels. The stake center, where the broadcast was received by satellite, is the one most difficult to find. It is not near any main road. She found it. She sat through conference and then spoke to missionaries explaining her situation and testimony. Of the 14 missionaries attending the conference, she spoke to Elderes Roberts and Lopez, the missionaries assigned to the ward where she lives. She was happily, as you can see, baptized a couple of weeks later.

Miracles happen.

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The next day we headed out from Poza Rica toward Veracruz. Life was very normal, tranquil as always, fishermen casting their nets, as we crossed the river at the Costa Esmeralda town of Casitas.

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The slogan of Veracruz is "The State that Smiles." Life here really is tranquil. We hear of problems up on the border and can hardly imagine it. Once in a very rare while though, something crazy happens. These pictures show a big truck with some bullet holes and a tire flattened because of a balacera, a shootout. This is the story.

We were sleeping soundly in the Rio Vista Hotel in Poza Rica. At 5:40 a.m. the phone rang. It was Elder Amador. He greeted me cheerfully. He sounded very awake. I asked what was up. (Not who...I knew that.) He said that right out in front of their missionary house was a balacera, a shootout. I asked what he and his companions were doing. There are four living in that apartment. He said that they were all lying down on the floor. Cement houses are good if there is a balacera in the neighborhood.

There are two major drug cartels in Mexico. One is generally located in the north and work the border states. The other is the Gulf Cartel. The locals refer to both of them, and most other drug gangs as Los Zetas or the Mafia. The word is that the northern guys came to town to shoot it out with some of our hometown Gulf gangsters. They go into homes and yank people out of beds demanding to know where a suspected rival is. Sometimes they hurt people. Sometimes they don't. If they find whom they seek, he is a dead man. It is not personal. It's just business. Don't worry about visiting Mexico unless you are in the illicit drug business, if you ARE in the illicit drug business stay near California where they are trying to legalize that stuff!

The local police got involved, who knows from which of several legal or less than legal positions. Then a chase around town started. The army joined in. That can be either good or bad, as well. There was shooting. Finally. the chase stopped in front of the missionaries' house and the real balacera began. So, I told the elders to keep their heads down and call me back in a few minutes when the shooting stopped. They did that many minutes later.

Elder Amador reported that all was tranquilo. He said that the police were still outside and that he could see a patrol truck and a big Chevy all shot up. At 7 a.m. the army banged on their door and wanted the keys to the church. It was about 1 block up the street. I asked him to see what was going on. He went out to talk to the police who were hurrying pedestrians along. Traffic was not passing by. The street is a hard dirt backstreet with minimal vehicular traffic. He told me that the police were inside the church. I asked him to hustle down there and see what their plans were, if it were safe. He said that it was, and he did that.

When he and his companion arrived they found that the big gate to the church parking lot had been forced open. Four of Los Zetas were handcuffed and sitting in the middle of the outdoor basketball court. More officials were inside the church searching for more bad guys. Then, the shooting started again!

Elder Amador and Elder Martinez Barrios made a dash for the church. Los Zetas had returned, presumably to attempt a rescue of their captive amigos. This round was short-lived, only a few dozen shots were fired. The attempt failed. After all was quiet, the officials returned the church keys and sped off with the arrestees in tow. Elder Amador and Elder Martinez sprinted back to the safety of their bunker.

By the time their regular morning studies were done, the missionaries all left for work. They worked in areas away from their houses. At 6:30 that night we went through the neighborhood. People were out in the streets as usual. Life was normal. The missionaries returned home and baptized the following Saturday.

There are some procedural things that I do. I inform the Area Presidency. They talk with SLC, with their first point of contact who is an Apostle. The Brethren want to know when a missionary is in a dangerous situation. Church security called me for followup. It was back to business as usual after a couple of hours.

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It is amazing to us how hard this people work to earn a living. These men are loading oranges for shipment. They must be handpicked in orchards. Most citrus trees have long spiny thorns. It is hot, hard, and oftimes bloody work. They are loaded by hand into large, but smaller, trucks. The white truck with the red rack is an example.

Then, they unload the organges into huge, handmade baskets. They are carried on the back of the laborer. I have no idea what one of these full baskets might weigh. Imagine the weight of a box of oranges and then estimate how many of those boxes would fit into one of the baskets. Incredible.

He scales a ladder, best seen in the first photo, with the basket on his back and dumps it into the huge truck. They are then delivered to packing houses and shipped to various parts of the world. The next time you are in the supermarket and buy fruit you will note that a great deal of it comes from Latin America. These guys picked and packed it for you for 10 pesos an hour. That is about 75 cents, American, by today's exchange rate.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

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We got detoured around this bridge which had been undercut by flood waters. Good decision by the traffic control team.

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These are pictures of a place called Coxquihuitlán. We have no missionaries here because there is no unit of the Church. It is too far away for people to afford coming into town where there is a branch. But, we wanted to check it out. The Catholic church is very old. We have wondered how many people and how much time it took to build this building three hundred or more years ago.

This is the bell tower of what looked like an old school.

Below the blue tarps in front of the old school is a typical open air market.

The Salazar family run a small grocery store next to the open air market. They were very interested in us. We were asked if we were güerros, white people. We were and still are. We bought some drinks and chips from them and moved on, perhaps the first gúerros in this town for a very long time.

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Mom loves to deliver brownies to the missionaries. They were cooked and inside the box. At the end of all this, we will try to estimate the numbers of brownies she has baked. It will be in the thousands. Elders Redfern and Vargas look pleased.

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This is the new chapel, not a chapel but a casa de oración of the Teteles Branch. It is actually located in Atempec.

Elders Vargas and Redfern are making a followup visit to an investigator just up the street from the Catholic church while the dog watches over the missionaries. It was a colder and misty day up in the highest, by elevation, area of the mission. The temperature was around 45°F.

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We have talked about missonaries eating armadillo once in awhile. Actually, it is illegal to kill an armadillo so we have never tasted it. But, when we saw it on a menu in a restaurant, I was excited. The meat was shredded. It was smothered in a pasty, overpowering, and hot adobo salsa. When I could taste the meat, it was gamey. The light colored, shiny things in the meat turned out to be light colored, shiny and very hard. They were little, tiny bones. Basically, I think I will now be able to say I have eaten armadillo. That was the last time, I am pretty sure.

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Finally, a Taco Bell! This is in Teziutlán. We didn't stop to check out the 10 tacos or bean burritos promotion like they have at the Taco Bell in Pacifica (CA) at Taco Bell Beach. These tacos are soft corn tacos, your choice of things like tongue, slimy soft pig skin (cooked), heart, and other interesting meat selections. We don't go there.

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This tire represents 7700 pesos. We were driving between Posa Rica and Papantla to an early morning meeting with the zone. As we hustled around a sharp corner their was a bache, BAH-chay, a hole in the road. This one was very sharp and steep and deep. I saw it at the last second and had to choose the bache or the oncoming bus. The bus won and so did the bache. You can see the blowout at 3 o'clock on the tire. The rim is bent. This was the right rear tire. The right front didn't blow out but it separated. A taxista, taxi driver, was kind enough to stop and help us. Mom talked with his passengers and we passed a referral to the missionaries. After the zone meeting, we limped back to Poza Rica (20 km) and 7700 pesos later had two new Michelins and a straightened rim. We were protected on this one.

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Pedro Rivera had a little problem with homicide several years ago, but he changed his life and was approved by SLC for baptism. He was baptized in August and has remained very active, singing in the stake choir and greeting everyone at the door. He is also the designated baptizer for the sister missionaries in his ward. The sisters in the first picture are Hermanas Anguiano from near Mexico City and Cua from the Yucatan Peninsula.

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Elders Moro and Andersen, who is from Veyo, UT, found these lost lambs on their way home in the dark in the pueblo, Tlapacoyan. Or were the missionaries the lost lambs?

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The little lady in the second picture is Juana Luna, Jane Moon. Hermana Juanita, as everyone calls her, was imprisoned over 25 years ago for killing her abusive husband with a pipe. She got out in 1980 and is now 78 years old. She has the prettiest smile, one tooth on top, one on the bottom. When asked why she wanted to be baptized she said that when she goes to church, "I am filled." The first picture is the day of her baptismal interview after which I asked SLC for permission to baptize her. The second is her baptismal day a few weeks later, pictured with Hermanas Flores y Carrillo.

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Elders Ramirez Arámbula from Zacatecas and his new missionary Elder Vazquez baptized this young man in Tuxpam. The fun part of the story is that his brother was baptized in Veracruz about 9 months before, which is 5 hours to the south. Can you guess which one the brother is? Clue: He is the only other non-missionary male in the picture.

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We have talked about bauti-stritos in earlier blog posts, when each companionship baptizes in the same week. This district did it in Xalapa. The missionaries are Elders Angulo, Ramirez M., Ramos, Bullock from Virginia, Andersen, and Heinhold both from the SLC area.

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This is Elder Ricks from San Antonio, Texas and Elder Gutierrez Cadena from San Luis Potosí. It was Elder Ricks' first baptismal service. He arrived a couple of days before the hurricane and we are now three weeks later. Poor Elder Ricks! He was so ill he could hardly leave the bathroom. But, he loaded up on Pepto-Bismol and held together long enough to get into the water and perform ordinances, a mom and her two children. These are two fine missionaries. Just look at those smiles!

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We had a zone conference in Papantla. Bishop Ramos of the Manatiales (springs, as in springs of water) Ward is a chef. The church is just around from his restaurant which is in the house behind the missionaries. You can see menu ideas on the posters. When we have a zone conference in Papantla, we always contract with Bishop Ramos to provide us a meal afterwards. He makes some great stuff. Sometimes it is a little weird, too. For dessert he had a baked calabasa, pumpkin or other squash. It is candied with something sweet and comes complete with gooey, gross strings and seeds. I gave mine to Elder Teisina who will eat anything and a lot of it. That's where Mom's went, too. The best part of the meal is always Bishop Ramos' horchata which is rice milk flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. Papantla is the international home of vanilla. It is the best and that is what he uses. It is so fattening! And worth every kilo.

The missionaries are Elders Alder, Alvarez, Reidhead, Gonzalez Ojeda, Campos, Cifuentes, Favela, Castillo, Ruiz E., Sierra, Teisina, and Ruiz C.

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Hurricane Karl formally ushered the... uh ...hurricane season. Thank you. The hurricane season is the rainiest season. Elder Bell, a new missionary from Moreno Valley, CA, is about 6 foot 6. He works in Poza Rica and it was raining this day. Someone had mercy on him and gave him an umbrella. Imagine his gratitude. Because we live in the tropics, missionaries rarely wear a coat except in the mountain areas.

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Elders Chase and Checketts

Part of the missionaries with Elder Luis Hernandez Gallo, Fourth Quorum of the Seventy. He lives in Tijuana and flew over to lend his support and report back to the Area Presidency.

Some more muddy shoes, girls and boys.

This post marks the last post for the month of September, 2010.

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Elder Silva

Elders Peña y Lázaro

Elders Gates and Martinez Dominguez

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Elders Ramirez M. and Ahlstrom

Elder Valdez

Elders Lázaro, Peña, and Gil

Elder Taufa

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Elder Melchor

Elder Hollobaugh

Elders Porter, LeDosquet, Ahlstrom, Gonzalez P, Valdez, Ramirez, Zárate

Elder Valdez

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Sisters Carrizales and Frausto

Sisters Flores and Carrillo, who is four days into her mission.

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These little boys were living in the back of this pickup. Their mouths are full of . . . you guessed it--M&M's.

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Elder Ramirez Martinez got too close to the wrong edge of a machete. Do you think that nurse enjoys stinging his hand with antiseptic?

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Elder Villalobos, Machete Man

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Elders Courtright, Ramirez M, and Kraft

Elder Gonzales Pescador

Muddy Street

Muddy shoe

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The next several posts honor missionaries who came to the aid of people they didn't know, to work and get dirty, and they loved every minute of it.

Elders Kraft, Gonzalez P., Villalobos, y Chase

Elder Taufa

Elders Taufa, Ray, and Hunt

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Fifteen days after the hurricane the Veracruz Mexico Stake organized a service project in Cardel, the hardest hit area. The destruction and the lack of recovery, after two weeks, was hard to understand. We have never seen anything like it.

The sign says, "Hands that Help. Lattér-day Saints. Here"

We transported about 40 missionaries from Veracruz to Cardel. Some had been in the mission for only 5 days; others arrived 4 days before the hurricane hit. Welcome to your mission!

Click for enlarged view.

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Still more leftover water, a week later. The water lingered in this neighborhood for weeks.

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Members were housed at a couple of different churches. Mom always has M&M's for the niños.

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After the rain and wind stopped, about 45 minutes of 120 mph breezes, we took the sister missionaries home. It took 4 hours to drive that which should take less than an hour. There was almost no traffic. It was all downed trees. The temple survived, but oh my! The firewood . . .

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We had called the sister missionaries to grab a taxi and get the mission home. We have a little extra room there. By the time we arrived, half of the floor upstairs was covered with water because our roof decided to leak (again). The sisters found towels and buckets and were hard at work. They are Hermanas Anguiano, Flores, Carrizales, and Calvillo.

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Trying to drive to the mission home, not realizing that this was the height of the tempest. Very lonely. Very scary.

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We gathered supplies and gathered a bunch of missionaries into the mission offices. All were accounted for throughout the mission and all went to apartments on the second story. Many of these came in soaked through and changed into civvies. Fortunately, we have a dorm with 15 bunkbeds. Elder Taufa, front left, would be assigned to a bottom bunk. His town, Cardel which is about 15 minutes north of town, was hardest hit by the hurricane as it was the point of the landfall.

Click on the photo to enlarge and see your favorite missionary.

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I know that Hurricane Karl is not necessarily missionary work, but it was definitely part of our mission. This next few posts will show the intensity of the destruction and some missionaries lending service.

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In spite of it all, the swollen Rio Papaloapan was a beautiful sight.

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Local stakes emptied their closets of clothing and household items to donate to post-hurricane flood victims. Pres. Omar Canaan from the Orizaba Stake sits atop a pile of goods in one of three locations that stake used as collection sites.

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The "river people," those living in houses on the river side of the levee road, moved out and improvised along the side of the highway. One of them covered a sugar cane wagon with visquine. They had strung electrical wires for power sources and even had TV in their shanties. Gotta watch soccer, you know.