Temple Open House

Wow what a month! It feels like we have been on Mr. Toads Wild Ride! The open house for the Temple is in full swing, we just completed the second week with one week left. The people are coming by the busload to visit.

Then they have to stand in lines in order to get into the Temple or the Visitors Center.

I visited with a Stake President from Aguascalientes the other day in the Temple. They left at midnight in order to be at the Temple in the morning. A 7 hour bus ride! The nearest Temple for them is Guadalajara which is a 3 hour bus ride. What a great feeling they brought with them.

Last Sunday and today they are having a special open house tour for the women here.
The mothers and daughters etc. to show them the Brides Dressing room to encourage Temple Marriage. They have also come by the busload. The lines winding all around the grounds.

We had a couple of Birthdays this month. First was President Anaya's. We surprised him with a cake, and a book of remembrance of sorts.

We had the missionaries write a short note to him, either a birthday wish or a special experience they had in the mission. We had it bound and presented it to him.

We also had a party for Elder Mejia. One of the Elders here in our ward. He completed 3 years as a member. So we had a party with cake for him.

We had a few other missionaries in the office along with President Anaya. Elder Mejia enjoyed the day. He didn't know Pres. Anaya was behind him as he was blowing out the candles.

You can see the results!

 We have some great missionaries here. We have missionaries busy entering referrals of the people who have expressed interest in knowing more

and others helping giving tours.








 There are sisters here that have been called to work in the Visitors Center. They are all hispanic sisters, most from Mexico but we also have some from Peru, Guatemala, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic.

As usual we have missionaries whose time has come to go home. This is always a fun time, but a sad one as well.

We wonder who will take their places, who will be the new leaders. Then we get new missionaries and watch them as they go with their new companions and you can see that some are a little more scared than others. Then after 2-4 months you see them again and marvel at how they have grown!

The other morning President and Sister Anaya came into the office  and told us to turn off the computers and come with them. We did not have a clue where we were going but if the President says come we me ...you do it.  We jumped into his van and off we went. He took us out to see some of the mission. As we were driving he kept telling us where we were, which Stake and Ward. It was really fun to see different part of the mission. We really hadn't been able to see any of it before. Well we were in for a big surpise...

Tacos Shakira!

That is what the missionaries call it..it is actually Tacos Claudia..but since she has reddish hair the missionaries say she looks like a popular singer whose name is Shakira. What ever you call it..they are great tacos!

We each had one order of 4 tacos..and we each took 2 home! They were great. Now that we know that we can get there by subway..we will be back. But you have to go before 12 noon or 1 o'clock because they sell out fast.
We are always finding new food here...some, like Tacos Shakira are great! On the other hand sometimes we are pretty sure we are not going to try them!

 Everyone at the market said they are delicious when ground up in fresh salsa but we will take their word for it!

We did find a lady selling mole (pronounced molay)..kind of a sauce that you put over meat. Some times it is better than others...we bought some and it was pretty good.
Then we have this new fruit for us... they are called rambutan and have a citrus like flavor. You peal off the outside and lucky those spines are soft and not pokey at all. There is a big nut in the middle so there really isn't a lot of fruit or meat to each one. But they really are quite tasty .

Well  time to close this entry..This next week will be a busy one as well. Working in the office from 8am to 3pm, our day job, and then to the Visitors Center from 3 pm to 8:30 or 9pm. Our second job. The President did say that we would be eligible for a raise in our salary! He is so generous!
Elder and Hermana Anthony
aka
Dave and Marilyn
Mom and Pop
Grandpa and Grandma
Beautiful sunrise here in Mexico!

Six Month Mark!

Well we have completed 6 months here in Mexico! The time has flown by and we have had some wonderful experiences and met and made some good friends. We have seen missionaries come and go,

Hermanas Jones, Young, Pres Anaya, Elders Hall y Farnsworth.

we have felt their love for missionary work,

2 great Elders from the D.R.Gomez and Polanco

their longing for home and families and at the same time their reluctance to leave not only the mission but the work as well.

Elders Avila and Porter

So many have looked forward to their missions for so long that they really have a hard time believing that it is over and they have to leave.

What a group..they all left August 1..met them at the airport at 3am!

What a wonderful experience it is for them.

Elder Farnsworth y shuttle driver Pres. Anaya

Many of the young missionaries here that are not from the US are recent converts themselves with only a year or two of being a member before they came on their missions, so they really learn a lot!

Great Food = Happy Elders!

Many also are the only members of their family while others here have grown up in the church just like in the US. What a great experience it is for those who devote themselves to this work.

Elders Merrill y Navarro

Hermanas Woodard y Fowler

Hermans Anthony, Heywood, Rhoten, Woodard, Elder Anthony

Elders Buston y Smith

Elders Medina y Walker

Elders Shillig y Alvarez. Hns Lopez, Hernandez y Castañeda

We have had a great and interesting last two weeks. They have started to remodel or redo the bathrooms here in the apartment complex. They started with the apartments of the Smiths and Pococks while they were away. Then they started on ours. They came and stacked all our furniture in the front room/ dining room and covered it with plastic to protect it from the dust.

Then they chipped out some of the tile in the bath room,

removed the vanity and toilet and retiled. It really does look better. While we were without a bathroom we used the Pocock"s while they were away. Things have not gone quite as planned with the remodel however as they put in new glass around the shower and didn't allow for the light fixture in the ceiling

so they had to take the take the glass doors off, replace them with a shower curtain

and will reinstall new glass walls in the future. Oh well...it will be nice when finished. At least we have hot showers, and in door plumbing!
These past two weekends we have decided to get out and see the city using public transportation. What a fun experience!? The small buses or "micros" as they are called only cost about .28 cents US each and take us to the metro or subway. There for another .32 cents each we can ride the subway all over the city. Yesterday we went down town without too much planned, Dave wanted to visit a leather store that one of the Elders had told him about. Turns out it has been in business at the same spot for 102 years! We didn't buy anything but across the street is a museum ..The museum of Mexico City. It is an old Palace that dates back to the 1600's. We took an hour tour from a young guide there...very interesting place. Across the street from there in the first hospital built in Mexico and the place where Montezuma first met Hernan Cortez. We didn't have time to go there so that will be another fun trip. They are both located in what is called the Historic Center of Mexico City with a lot of old building..some in better shape than others. We had a good time walking around and seeing people, people, and more people out shopping etc with their families. We had a couple walk up to us and introduce themselves as members who will be working the kitchen here on Temple Square during the open house and when the temple opens.
We ended the day by taking the subway to Polanco where we went shopping in Costco and then took a taxi home $12.00 US, no way to bring all our groceries home on the subway. It was a fun day ...and when we got home they had finished our bathroom, put the furniture back and cleaned the house!