José Minquiz Pelayo was called to serve in the México Culiacán Mission. Because he is from the Los Tuxtlas District, it was my blessing to work through his papers with him and set him apart on 8Feb2009. He is pictured with his father, who is not a member, and his twin brother, Josué. Can you guess which one is José? Look really close. Yup. The one of the right. Or left. Right side as you look at the photo, to my left. Get it? Okay everybody, smile for the camera! They did.

Right across the street from the stake center in Teziutlán is a veterinary clinic. It seems like this is really a one-stop shopping kind of a business. The wall across the street behind the bright green taxi advertises vaccinations, surgeries, and births. If that doesn't work read the next panel to the right. "Se disecen animales" means that if all else fails, they will mount your dead pet for you. Yup. The vet clinic is also a taxidermy shop. In front of mom on the street is the skeleton of a small dog. Nice memory of little Bowser, huh? We have seen a few dogs walking around that look a lot like that, if you just added a thin layer of skin. The third picture is a bonus shot of a stuffed parrot. Fine work. The puppies in the cage are alive and are for sale, but who knows? They could end up on somebody's mantle. These are worth the "click" on the pictures to enlarge them.

I really like this picture of Mom with Elder Ricks from El Dorado Hills in Northern California and Elder Cifuentes from Mexico City. She is most happy when she is with her missionaries. They work in Teziutlán which is in the State of Puebla and is high in the mountains. We were with them that Saturday for a special interview

"Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach" (Preach My Gospel, 156). We had just completed a meeting with President Hernandez of the Tuxtepec Stake in the Moctezuma Chapel. We gave Elder Preston, Santa Rosa, CA and Elder Badillo, Mexico City, a ride to their area and dropped them off. We drove about 100 yards away and in the rear-view mirror I noticed they were talking with a young man who happened along the dirt road. With the zoom lens I was able to capture two missionaries doing what real missionaries do--talking with everyone they can.

We left the offices on a Monday afternoon in plenty of time to make our way to two days of zone conferences in the south of the mission. The plan was that the assistants would work with the zone leaders and we would go to the hotel to work on missionary mail, etc. We were about 1 kilometer from the exit when traffic stopped dead. We could not go forward or backwards. The medians on these freeways are deep and steep. There was no way out. We later learned that the campesinos, or men who work in the fields, were mad at the government about something so they blocked the freeway. A fight broke out which turned into a riot, police against the farmboys. 36 people, including 11 police officers, were hospitalized. Some of the scofflaws were arrested. The traffic flow stopped at about 6 p.m. At 10:30 a.m., that is in the morning, like more than 16 hours later, we moved again. We slept in the minivan with the assistants and mosquitoes. No bathrooms. Very annoying. But, we had plenty of crackers and water. In the morning the ground fog lingered. We brushed our teeth, and went to zone conference only a three hours late. Here we are with Elder Rangel. One of us is slobbering toothpaste.

The week before Secretary to the President Elder Bangerter left the offices to return to the field as a zone leader, he and his companions baptized a wonderful young man. He is talking about serving a mission and was called as ward clerk just days after his baptism! The missionaries are Elders Bangerter, Mt. Pleasant, Elder Reyes, and Elder Judd from Mesa who is the new secretary.

Bro. Cesário Ballesteros had a problem with homicide several years back. He had polio as a child and is partially paralyzed. He has no education and is crippled. No one will hire him. He took to begging on the streets. After many years of frustration, he was contacted by the missionaries who overlooked his station in life and considered him a brother and a child of Heavenly Father. They talked with him and invited him to church. They thought they would not go because the Bible does not mention the name Joseph Smith. But, he came with his wife and children. They both felt comfortable, warm, and welcome. I interviewed him on July 1, 2008 and learned his whole story. He was required to live the life of a member for many months. His wife was baptized without him in July. Over an 8 month period of time he changed. He started a business. He and his wife walk the streets picking up junk metal and plastic and sell it as scrap. He even paid tithing even though he was not a member. The Brethren granted permission and he was baptized on March 21, 2009. They are making plans to be sealed in a year.