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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.