The Mayas

The Zarates

It is a joy to work with missionaries and Senior Couples who greet each day--and challenge with a smile.  We lose Elder and Sister Maya this week, they are going home to Zacatecas and a family who have sorely missed them.  We will now be the ones to sorely miss them!  They have served 18 months, and helped us "learn the ropes" when we got here--and are still doing so.  Sister Maya walked me to two different tianguis to be sure that I knew where I was going and who sold the best fruits, vegetables and meats (the pork loin was great--not so sure about the chicken--I'll probably stick with Costco's frozed bag of chicken breasts!)  Besides leaving us short-handed, they will be leaving a large hole in the lives of all of us who are serving here.  We are having a despedida for them tonight, and expect a lot of tears.  Then there are the Zarates who arrived a few months before us.  They are from Oaxaca, and a little Puebla at that!  They are the parents of 12 children, and are about the most humble people you would hope to meet.  Never equate humility with lack of ability.  Both of Zarates are tireless workers.  They are not satisfied with working 6 6-hour shifts each week, they go out early in the morning on their Pday to work the streets, handing out pass-along cards, invitations to the Visitors Center, and setting up appointments to teach.  Elder Zarate has already had 4 baptisms after only a few months.  The two of them put the rest of us to shame!  Not really, because we are doing what we were called to do, but we have come to love and really appreciate the Zarates!  During the last spate of earthquakes, which hit their puebla, they took it all in calmly, telling us that in Oaxaca the earth shakes all the time and that they and their children were fine.  I pushed them to contact the family--they reported the next day that everything was OK, just like they'd said. 
The word that comes to mind is "unflappable", unmovable in their faith.  Sister Zarate has undertaken to help me with my Spanish, which is fine by me.
Our Sisters are marvelous!  We have changed a few things since we got here, not many.  Each change, though, is difficult because they are accustomed to doing things the way they were taught.  And the way they were taught was good.  Fine tuning, however, sometimes requires changes.  They have (not always cheerfully) embraced each change and made it theirs.  What a miracle to have such a spirit of obedience!  This week the change was one requested by the Mission President in our first conversation--a change in Pday.  After the inital confusion, they are adjusting and working it out.  The idea is to give them the opportunity to attend the Temple on their Pday.  Previously all Pdays for the Sisters were on Monday, when the Temple was closed.  Now half of the Sisters have Pday on Monday, half on Tuesday--leaving the VC staffed all week, and the Sisters with the availability to attend the Temple. 
We are looking forward to a visit from Salt Lake next week.  We are anticipating the possibility of more changes then.
Until next week!

Well....  A lot of time has passed.  We served our Mission in the Mexico City South Mission and returned home to Blue Springs--where we spent 2 years enjoying ourselves.  We vacationed to St Thomas (before the Hurricane), St. Kitts, Disney World (several times), Florida's beaches, the mountains of Utah (especially Park City--which we love), and places in between.  We really enjoyed being able to travel and visit places--mostly with beaches--and having the ability to relax, read, and float in an ocean or pool.  In the meantime we visited family, renewed friendships, became temple workers and dove into Family History.  But time passes and lives change.  In August of 2017 we received a telephone call from the Missionary Department that redirected our lives.  We received a call to return to Mexico, and serve as Director(s) of the Mexico City Temple Visitors Center.  And so here we are once again.  We are now living in Mexico City--at the northern end of the city instead of the southern end of the city.  We live a few steps from the one of the most beautiful Visitor's Centers in the world, and a few steps further from the beautiful Mexico City Temple.  We are blessed.  We get to live here for 2 years, and get to work with the world's best young missionary sisters.  We love getting up in the morning and walking (2 minutes) to work.  It's the world's best commute!  We love working with these wonderful sisters and the 2 "matrimonios" (Sr. Missionary couples) that are serving here.  We love having the opportunity to teach and, talk and visit with the wonderful people who enter the CV every day.  They are a highly varied group of people--from those who walk in off the streets and know nothing about Mormons, to Members who need a spiritual uplift.  We are greatly blessed and loving it!

We attended a Stake Conference last week--Estaca Aragon.  This is our Stake.  Since the Visitor's Center is open 9 hours a day, every day of the week, our plan was to attend all of the evening session, and then the Sunday morning session until 11 am--when we were going to switch with the Sr. Couple who had agreed to work in the Center that morning (all the Sr. Couples are part of the same Stake).  However, the Area Authority Seventy in charge wanted us on the stand, so we were invited up and sat there--next to him--for 2 excellent Conference Sessions!  We loved the messages and challenges given, "Be better parents", "Go to the Temple weekly", "Do your Family History", "Share the Gospel with your friends".  What was really fun was that I understood everything!  Usually the Spanish spoken from the pulpit is rapid and tough to understand--not this time.

We have been slow to make changes at the Center, but are beginning to institute some small adjustments.  Our sisters are now always working in pairs, both while greeting guests in the Center and while working in the Teaching Center--where we tcontact and teach people all over the world.  Literally--we are now teaching in Spain, the US, Portugal, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, etc.  We have also changed the way we greet people, being more open and natural, less-stilted and rote.  There are more changes on the horizon, most of them coming from Salt Lake.  We rejoice in our Sisters, our friends, our great new opportunity to live in the shadow of the beautiful Mexico City Temple and share the gospel!

Dia de Independencia and New Arrivals--all at the same time!

Last Monday, Sept 15, was Mexico's Dia de Independencia--the equivalent of our 4th of July.  The day was pretty quiet--with most people putting in at least a morning of work.  Tom and I got up and went to IHOP (we discovered an IHOP on University Ave.!) for breakfast.  When we got there, we discovered the place was packed with a long waiting line--seems we weren't the only ones who were thinking of pancakes, eggs and hash browns!  We had a great breakfast (which lasted us the ENTIRE day), then took a taxi to Plaza Hidalgo to see what was going on.  Plaza Hidalgo is the second most important plaza (after the Zocalo) in Mexico City.  We discovered a LOT was going on!  The place was packed.  There were numerous streets closed down for a carnival--where the owners (plural) of rides simply bring their trucks/rides in and park them.  No planning or organization, just a lot of carnival rides.  Most were small versions of tilt-a-whirls, etc.  Then there were the streets shut down for food vendors--LOTS of those.  There was a big stage being set up for the entertainment that evening, and another stage at the City Government building (Cortez' fort--only Cortez never used it) for the "Grito".  The "Grito" is the highlight of the day for Mexicans.  It happens at 10:45, and gives everyone the opportunity to shout (gritar) in unison, "Viva Mexico", or "Viva" whatever.  We stayed up to watch the Grito from the Zocalo, which was broadcast live, and several other Gritos across the country.  In the Zocalo, the President of Mexico leads the Grito, listing a long string of people, events or things that Mexicans have to be proud of.  Viva Independencia, Viva Mexico, Viva......  It was pretty neat.  However, the crowds become overwhelmingly dense, so we checked things out at Hidalgo, ate some pan from our favorite panaderia, strolled through the Mercado and bought a few trinkets, and then headed home.  As we headed out around 3 pm, the security forces were set up to inspect everyone coming in--and LOTS of people were heading in!

All this was complicated by the fact that 18 new missionaries arrived on Monday

--half of them in the morning from the CCM, the other half arriving at 10 pm from the US.  We welcomed them on Tuesday--after a good night's rest, and then got back to the work of getting things moving for the next group of 20 who arrive in 6 weeks.  It was tough to say goodbye to those going home--it always feels like we are losing our kids and grandkids, especially when we know we probably won't see them anytime soon.  We got some great individual pictures, but here is the group with the Valadez' at the Mission home....

Great Elders!  We will miss them all!

A Week of Hello's, Goodbye's and the World Cup!e

Well, it has been a whirlwind week, as the week of transfers always is.  We were so busy welcoming and training, we didn't have time for many pictures, so I'm going to post Hermana Valadez' group photos.  We aren't in them, but our great missionaries are!  The first, below, are the missionaries who left.  We miss them--LOTS!  They have become part of our lives, and will always have a place in our hearts.  We love you Elder Frasier, Elder Baker, Elder Limb, Elder Carver, Elder Chavez and Hermana Santos!  You are the BEST!

The second is our new missionaries.  We spent all day Monday with the missionaries from Spanish speakin countries, then all Tuesday with the US missionaries.  Thursday was spent in training with all the trainers and newbies.  Tiring, but wonderful!

The other great thing about this picture is that it is the last that will be taken at the Churubusco Stake Center.  The Stake Center is closing on Sunday--and all 4 wards will be attending in other buildings.  The Church has decided to do a MUCH NEEDED renovation to this building, and it will be closed 1 1/2 years--won't open until long after we are gone.  The other great thing is how internations this group is, with missionaries from all over.  Only 4 are from Mexico! We areeet privileged to have so many young friends all over the Western Hemisphere...

And then there were the World Cup games....  The World Cup is a HUGE occassion in Mexico City. On the days that Mexico plays, there is hardly anyone in the streets--traffic is practically non-existant.  AND, all the street vendors haul flat screen tvs (!) with them, hook onto a signal somehow, and play the game for all to see.  The first time Mexico played, we had a hard time walking down the sidewalk--there were too many people gathered watching!  The second game they played was played in the afternoon and was in its final minutes when we walked home from the office.  When we left, the score was 0-0.  When we walked into our apartment complex--we were startled by the huge "ROAR" that went up from virtually EVERY apartment in our complex (hundreds of apartments).  Tom turned to me and said, "Mexico just scored".  We kept walking, a few minutes (like 2) later, another huge "ROAR"--"They scored again!".  We walked into the apartment, turned on the TV, and sure enough--both roars were scores!  We watched the remaining 10 minutes of the match with the rest of the complex, cheering when they did!  Everyone here has opinions on all the teams playing, their chances, best players, etc.  It's fun to start the conversations in the taxicabs--soccer can keep us talking for a whole 30 minute ride!

We have new sidewalks!  The city decided to pull up and repour the concrete on Universidad.  It is wonderful!  We no longer have to trip on our way to Walmart!

Soggy City!

June 10, 2010

We feel like we are living in Seattle.  In 2 weeks, we have seen the sun only yesterday--and only for a few hours.  The weather forecast is the same every day--rainy, with thundershowers (with REALLY hard rain) in the afternoon and evening.  Temperatures around 72-75 degrees each day.  I find my early years of living in Southern California, Hawaii and Florida have conditioned me to need the sun.  It is depressing to wake up to gray skies and rain every day.  The taxistas tell us they love this season of rain and cool temperatures--guess I'm not on board with rain and the subsequent mold and moss growing everywhere.  This is definitely NOT the Mexico of the movies!  However, there is a whole new crop of flowers growing everywhere, bright colors, beautiful aromas.  Where there isn't grass, there is bright green moss.  It is still a beautiful city with "OOOHs and AAAAHs" around every corner. We took a walk around the "unidad" (apartment complex) last night after the afternoon rains and it was really pleasant.  We found a California Pizza Kitchen and ate there last Friday after work.  The pizza was great--and brought back memories of the trip we took to Boston for the NSTA Convention.  We ate at the CPK at Copley Square--so, good memories!
They are tearing up the hazardous sidewalks on Universidad and replacing them!  Wow!  The sidewalks in Mexico City are awful--mostly because the beautiful trees that shade the streets have roots that need places to grow.  Those places are the sidewalks.  As a result, the sidewalks are broken up, heaved up, missing, or otherwise hazardous.  We had a great chat with a few of our sister missionaries last week about how many ways there are to fall flat on your face (or bum) while walking the sidewalks.  They all had multiple stories to tell about falling flat.  We try always to walk with our heads down and our eyes on the sidewalk, but we still stumble occasionally.  I am SO grateful that Coyoacan is replacing sidewalks!
We had planned to take a trip on Saturday by turibus and see the sights because sun was forecast.  Unfortunately, the forecast is now rain again.  AND, the YM/YW in our ward are going to be going to an old folks home to sing on Saturday--so they need me to accompany them.  Guess we will wait for another time for the turibus.  We did go to Perisur (Big, Upscale shopping mall) on Saturday.  They were having a Midnight Madness sale for 2 days, and it was crazy crowded with people.  We came home without buying anything but a tie for Tom and a hamburger (very good).  I can only compare it to Independence Center on the day after Thanksgiving--CRAZY!
Enough for today.  All is well!

May 12, 2014

Earthquakes and more....

The week started out great.  We spent Monday working on details for the arrival of our new missionaries (they arrived today).  Then Tuesday, we explored a new part of the city--Estrella--which is actually several "pueblos" which kind of grew together.  The result is that the streets are narrow and twisty, and it is difficult to get from one place to another.  We visited two apartments, one was gorgeous, one not so gorgeous--but both had been cleaned and were presentable.  We got a ride from a taxista in our ward who knew the way, but he had to leave us at the first apartment.  The missionaries then helped us get to the second apartment (you have to know where you are going and how to get there before you step into a taxi--this city is just WAY too big for any taxista to know the way.  The taxista that returned us home was interesting, filling us in on the Passion Play at Estrella--which is the 4th largest (according to the taxista) in the world.  Estrella is a hill, and every year there is a Passion Play about Christ's crucifixion in excruciating detail.  It is broadcast on ALL the Mexican television stations, with a blow-by-blow narration.  Kind of like the Macy's Day Parade, but with a totally different subject.  There are approximately 2 million people who throng Estrella on Good Friday.  The Elders have orders to stay in their apartments all day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Not safe!  Wednesday was more work in the office, as was Thursday.  However, on Thursday, we had another earthquake.  This time we were in the office and evacuated with everyone else.  We stood in the streets for about 15 minutes, while the APs, the DLs and the President starting calling to be sure the missionaries were OK.  It wasn't too bad where we were, but elsewhere in the city electricity was down, cars were "wobbling" on the road, and people were evacuating like crazy.  It measured over 6 on the Richter scale, but was about 150 miles away.  We had some interviews in Culhuacan that night, and they felt the quake much more than we did.  On Friday, we had our "planning" meeting, in which we met with the President and figured out how to handle all the timing and details of the arrivals and cambios that were coming.  Saturday was supposed to be a quiet day.  We were woken up by Tom's phone at around 8 am, it was a message from the Hermanas in Taxquena wishing me a Happy Mothers Day--which is celebrated on Saturday in Mexico (a surprise to us).  When I got on the computer, I found an e-mail from Caryn asking how we had weathered the Earthquake.  Earthquake?  What Earthquake?  Seems there was one at 2 am, and it was a strong one.  We slept through it!  We did our chores and headed out--looking for an alarm we could use to wake us up the next time.  People basically looked at us like were crazy.  Apparently earthquake warning devices are not sold in Mexico.  We are going to have to order one from Amazon and have it delivered.  We ended up in the office working on the new transfer board (changing the mission organization)--when around 12:30, another quake struck!  It was over really quickly, so we didn't evacuate, but 2 in 1 day was enough for us!
What a week!  Two mother's days, three earthquakes, and a lot of work.  Glad we have a new one to work on!

Sunday May 4, 2014

The day started out beautiful--sunny, blue skies, warm.  Now it is gray and cloudy outside, the wind has picked up, and it looks like it will rain again like it did yesterday.  Thunderstorms in Mexico City are a far cry from the violent thunderstorms in Kansas City.  We watched a movie last night with the windows wide open, enjoying the sound of thunder in the distance, rain pounding down, but NO SEVERE WARNINGS, and NO TORNADO WATCHES!  I guess we are into the rainy season here--at least the weather forecast for the next week shows only a few days without thundershowers.  AND, our temperatures have dropped from the high 80's to the mid 70's.  I might have to break the sweaters back out.  Everyone at church today was huddling and shivering--we still think the climate here is perfect!

This week was marked by a venture to a new part of the city--Del Valle--which is further north (really, on the northern edge of the mission).  It is close to the airport, and the homes are more expensive, the streets wider and better kept.  We have two sets of sisters living in an apartment in Del Valle, and they had a repairman coming, so they needed chaperones.  We sat and waited with them for 2 hours--no repairman.  Eventually all of us left to do other things.  It was an interesting trip, though.  Del Valle is completely different from our part of the city--more modern buildings, office buildings, high rises, modern apartment building, etc.  An interesting look at how a 20 minute drive can completely change your surroundings.

We started the week out in the office again--I baked chocolate chip cookies and took them in.  Over a hundred cookies disappeared in about 10 minutes.  We had several groups of missionaries in for English evaluations, and did an update on our incoming missionaries.  All are from the CCM, and I think we are ready for them.  Tuesday we did an update on missionary telephone numbers.  Seems that a lot of missionaries have been shifting phones out of their areas--so we are trying to get the phones back where they belong.  That is an important issue, because referrals and other messages go to areas, not specific elders.  If the phones are moving with the elders, the messages aren't being delivered.  We think we are update now (we called EVERY area to check), but will be waiting to hear about updates....

We also have a new referral program--which took three calls to SLC to straighten out.  It looks easier and better--it will certainly be great if it gives access to the Elders to the Google Map aspect.  I'm waiting to hear back from the Elders this week.

Friday we had an all-day leadership meeting with the ZLs, APs and Presidency.  It was long but a good discussion.  Sure love listening to the leadership evident in these young missionaries!

Saturday we got up early, did our housework and headed for Plaza Hidalgo to take a tour on the Coyoacan trolley.  It was a quick 30 minute tour in Spanish, but a great look at this very old, very significant city we live in.  We learned all about Leon Trotsky (who died in Coyoacan, killed by agents of Stalin), Frida Kahlo (a modern artist, wife of Diego Rivera), saw the "house" where Cortes' men bivouacked, saw the street where there used to be a pyramid, which Cortes ordered dismantled and the stones used to build a church (which we also saw), plus lots of other things.  When we finished the tour, we went to our favorite pasteleria and got goodies, then hit the artisan's mercado and bought a light blanket (red and orange weave), and a hat for Tom.  We also took time to go into St. Juan Bautista, the church on Plaza Hidalgo, to look at the paintings, etc--since the church dates to shortly after Cortes.  There was a wedding in progress, so we stood in the back of the church and watched the wedding.  (Lest you think us rude, there were tourists all over the place, wandering almost to the altar as they examined the murals, ceiling, sculptures, altars built to saints, etc.)  We have been in the church 3 times now, and there has been a mass, wedding or other service going at all times.
Tomorrow we need to kick into high gear and be sure all is in readiness for our 9 new missionaries.  We think we are ready--but the week promises to be a busy one.