November 8 2015...and Day of the Dead

Well here we are again...finally. We tried to update last week but the "estamos en Mexico" gremlins were alive and well. We tried to enter the blog as normal but the ".com" part of the blogspot would automatically change to ".mx" which is what all the internet addresses are here because we are in Mexico. Now that is understandable because we are in Mexico, but it has never happened before and it gives us the prompts to enter our blog and create in Spanish.  Now  we speak spanish, but I have a real hard time speaking "computer" when it is in English much less "computer" in Spanish!!! Probably only those of you who are my age will understand what I was just ranting about...but to make things worse somehow somewhere the gremlins either went to sleep or were laughing too hard that they didn't see me sneak into the blog spot undetected in English!!!! I still don't know how I did it...those nasty little gremlin buggers anyway!
We had Halloween here...sort of. Since we are in a gated compound on the Temple block no one can get in without  the security guards letting them. Saturday night was also part of Fast Sunday so the Sisters here on the Temple block didn't trick or treat until Monday night...and the kids from the ward who we thought would come didn't, partly because it was raining and partly because ( we found out later) we had not invited them.
Anyway we invited some of the kids to come Sunday after church just to get their candy.

The Sisters from the Visitors Center came Monday night after the center closed. They were so excited! They have such a great time when they get to let their hair down! All the couples here had treats for them and a little something to eat too. It was a really fun time!

Hola Y'all  

Witches were popular this year!

Elder and Sister Zapata even got into the act

Day of the Dead , which is some what like our Halloween even has it's own bread. Pan de Muerto or as we call it...Dead Bread. It is a special sweet bread that they have at this time of the year that has sugar  sprinkled on top. They decorate it to look like a spider on top...kind of spooky!

It is really good...glad they don't have it all the time or we would eat it all the time.

We had a special experience last week with the baptism of Carlos Jardi. He had heard of the church 30 years ago from one of his students while teaching English. Long story short just before the Temple  Open House he thought of the church again and wanted to learn more so he got on the Church web site and started chatting with someone on the site. Turns out she is a missionary in St. George I think, who is from the Mexico City area. She invited him to the open house, and to attend church (via the internet). He had just moved into our ward, unbeknownst to him, and we meet right here next to the temple. He came to the open house and to church. I saw him before church sitting near the back and started talking to him and invited him to sit with us. Well 6 weeks later, he was baptized

 and I was able to confirm him the next day! One of the highlights of the mission so far. His father was from Spain and his mother from Mexico. He is very fair skinned and speaks very good English. It has been great to get to know him. 

We spent one Saturday with Elder Javier and Sister Bonnie Zapata down town DF. We had a great time walking through the Arts and Crafts market where Sister Zapata and Sister Anthony had a fun time shopping. I think they both came away with a couple of skirts and blouses. We ate at a little restaurant and then went up the street to the Alameda Central, a very nice park that also had things to sell. By then we were tired and home we went. It was good for Elder Zapata to get out, he has been at home recovering from back surgery. 

The follow Saturday we were back downtown with Zapata's. This time for more skirts, scarves and hats. 

I think both of the Sister's are getting tired of the same outfits after a year. The Old Historic District is one of our favorites, the town is alive with people and some wonderful old buildings. 

We went into the old Post Office building. 

It is a beautiful building from the outside and just gorgeous on the inside. 

Beautiful granite floors and walls, with brass railings going up the stairs. Just a really classy, ornate building. 

We ate lunch at a little outside restaurant and had music from two musicians with traditional Mexican music

and had a great time. There was a Blues band on the other corner who were really good, playing some BB King tunes. 

The rest of the week wasn't so good. Tuesday Elder Zapata was complaining of pain in his chest so Elder Smith took him to the hospital. Turns out he had a mild heart attack either that morning or while in the hospital. They ran some tests and he has 4 blockages in his heart. They did an angioplasty and cleared 2 of them. We just found out that they may have to go in tonight to do some more or even open heart surgery. Sister Zapata is so worried as are we all.  She would like to take him home for surgery but I don't know that he could fly home at this point for surgery back home, so he may have to have it done here. We are so concerned for him...he is in our prayers. 

Getting sick on the mission is one thing but surgery is even worse. We all so hope he will get better. 

We are having some great experiences here with great friends, good hard working missionaries and  wonderful people. People everywhere!