Right after the zone conference, we hustled over to the 20th of November Chapel in Poza Rica to witness the first baptism in the new Veracruz Mission. The convert sure looks happy about it all, doesn't he? There was a very cute little primary choir which sang at the baptism. As it turned out, they were practicing for the primary program and the missionaries invited them in to practice at the baptism. The missionaries are Elders Mosqueda, Hyer, and Moyar.

This post begins the month of July, 1010.

Off we went to the new part of the mission. We drove up to Papantla early in the morning arriving in time to start the first of three important meetings--"Meet the President" conferences. We met with each of the four zones one at a time. We asked each missionary to talk about himself for a minute or two. After they were done they could ask us anything they wanted. When that was over, we asked each to share a scripture and teach us why that is important to him. Then we did the same. Each of these conferences took almost two hours. We were done at about 7:30 p.m.


La Zona Papantla


La Zona Poza Rica Mexico


La Zona Poza Rica Palmas


The next day we met with the Tuxpam Zone but did it in Poza Rica.


After that meeting we held a multi-zone conference and trained our 50 new missionaries coming in from Tampico on our attention to obedience and how we do business. We are focused on "Preach My Gospel" which is the missionary handbook for the entire world. We gave each of the missionaries a mission tie, took their pictures, fed them pizza, and sent them off to fulfill the missionary purpose ("Preach My Gospel," p.1). Right before that meeting, I assigned three of those missonaries as new zone leaders and two as new district leaders. Included in the photo are eight extending Veracruz zone leaders, now working as regular missionaries, who are helping with the transition.

In the early afternoon of June 30th, we met Pres. and Sis. Castañeda and their family at the Villahermosa Airport. Their son serves in our mission and at this moment was a trainer and had just been made a district leader.

This post is the last of June, 2010.

So, on June 30th we flew to Villahermosa to greet the new mission president and his family. We arrived early and took a few minutes with our dear friends, Pres. and Sis. Velasco of the Tuxtla-Gutierrez Mission. They are also giving up about 70 missionaries to create the Villahermosa Mission.


Of course, Mom made brownies for the office elders. Elder Campos Aranda is really pleased! Note the secret recipe.

And they love their TV's, too. This is a 50-inch flat screen trying to squeeze into a 48-inch taxi while traffic backs up for a couple of blocks. Welcome to Mexico!

I knew you would love this baptismal photo. Elder Ruiz G and Lopez Pech baptized these two in Piedras Negras, Black Rocks. The reason you love this photo is because the sister put her baptismal overalls on backwards. Either that, or she is starting a new fad. Mexicans are very style conscious. We´ll watch to see if the trend continues.

But, don't get all relaxed. Only a few minutes later, a generation of seven Mexican missionaries got off the plane. Here they are with their trainers the next day. Yes, June 28th was a busy day.