When we left the museum, Pres. Russ Bulloch of the Mexico City East Mission and I bought professional wrestling masks. We bought these because they look like the one worn by the famous luchador, Nacho Libre--one of our favorite really dumb movies.

We took lots of pictures inside the museum. You'll have to drop by and we will give you a slide show. I liked the skulls.


In the other shot we are standing beside one of the original Olmec Heads which date to the time of the Jaredites. They were found in our mission,some near the Hill Vigía which stands watch above Santiago Tuxtla. The word vigía translates watchman. The Olmecs are the oldest civilization in the Western Hemisphere, according to the anthropologists. The Olmecs did not worship these figures, but carved them from basalt to honor their leaders.

While at the seminar, they took us to the Anthropological Museum. Wow. It was loaded with great stuff. It is huge and we saw only the wing dedicated to the Gulf Coast. On the way in there is a pillar with replicas of ancient inscriptions. It represents a tree of the life of Mexico. There is a canopy and water falls from it in a 360° pattern. The day was quite warm but looked refreshingly cool behind the circular waterfall, so I strolled under the tree and stood by its trunk, much to the delight of the other mission presidents nearby. They were all laughting and smiling and taking pictures of me, so I posed for a minute and then walked out.


I was happy that they were happy, but I couldn't figure out why no one joined me until I walked out and they showed me the sign. In part it reads "you are prohibited from putting yourself under the 'umbrella' of the waterfalls . . ." Thanks for telling me. I didn't get arrested, but plain clothes security didn't want to let me into the museum because they thought my pants cuffs were wet. They might have been a little damp. I didn't acknowledge that I understood their language and just kept walking. The museum was nice and cool inside.

In August we were in Mexico City for the annual Mission President's Seminar. Elder Daniel Johnson is our new area president. He is from the Mormon Colonies in Northern Mexico. His wife is from Sugar City, Idaho. Her mom was Marva Weston who taught grade school with my mom in Sugar. Sis. Johnson knew of Nonnie and Grandma Hamilton. Interestingly small world this Churchworld is.


The seminar was presided over by Elder Todd Christofferson. He was kind enough to pose with each of us. When he was a Seventy, he came to Cedar City and released us from our stake presidency callings which, in turn, caused Mom to be released as Stake Relief Society President. That was in February of 2000. Then we moved to California arriving on July 1st. My cousin, Hal Allen, told me that Elder Christofferson attended a large 4th of July family gathering at their home in Orem (Vineyard) this year or last. He is a relative of Hal's wife, Connie. As they all introduced themselves, Elder Christofferson quipped, "I am Todd and I am still active in the Church." This photo is taken in the Visitor's Center at the Mexico City Temple. We had just come out of the temple from an endowment session.


Elder Christofferson was accompanied by Elder Walter Gonzalez of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Gonzalez set Mom apart as a full-time missionary on June 6, 2008. It was very nice to renew that acquaintance.

Office elders, Judd (Mesa), Huaman (Peru), and Preston (Santa Rosa, CA) are with a convert and her brother before her baptismal service in Veracruz. She was baptized after church on July 27, 2009. Her name is Grudelia Salazar Ramirez and her brother's name is Guadalupe, a man named after the famous Virgin of Guadalupe which gives you a sense of the depth of Catholicism of their parents. Grudelia is about Emma's height--but now that I think about it, she is shorter--maybe Andy's height. Elder Judd and I are about the same tall, as a point of reference. Guadalupe is planning a temple marriage in a year with his wife whom he also baptized last Saturday. He himself was baptized two weeks before that.

The final baptism that day was a Bro. Camarillo. He was baptized by Elder Bradshaw to his left. Three of his four sons are baptismal age. They really want to be baptized so that they can serve missions. But, the are waiting for their mom to be baptized with them. As of this posting (12/26/09) she has not been baptized, but she went to church a couple of weeks ago with the whole family. I think we will post her picture some day. The missionaries are Elders Contreras, Bradshaw (Oxnard, CA), and Rojo.

This series of pictures tell the story. I don't know the name of the 81 year old man. I like him, though. He sat alone on the beach looking anxiously into the surf, cane in hand flip-flops near the chair which had been borrowed from a local meetinghouse. He was obviously nervous as he watched what was going on knowing that he would soon be next. I talked with him for a minute and then asked, "¿Listo?" (Ready?) He smiled and answered, ¡"Siempre"! (Always!) So, pretty soon his turn came. He was the next to last to be baptized that day. Elders DeGroff from Mesa, AZ and Rojo from Mexico City carried him out into the sea. There he was gently instructed on the procedure by Elder Hernandez and was baptized. Afterwards, sitting on that church chair on the beach, backed by Elders Morales, DeGroff and Hernandez, he smiled again.