October already!

Wow...what has happened to this year?! Everything seems to be going so fast. Thought we would just do an update for some other items in September that we forgot to add... Like September 11, 1971, this picture was taken!

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It doesn't seem like all that long ago! This year, we celebrated with a nice quiet dinner outside at a little restaurant ....

Dinner at Burger King!

We then had the Cultural Celebration for the re-dedication of the Mexico City Temple and the re- dedication on Sept 13, 2015. The following week we went with the Smiths and Pococks to a little nicer place...

Why is everyone wearing a bib?

So with Tony Roma's here life is good! We celebrated with Richard and Janey Pocock who were married in the Idaho Falls Temple just one week before us! Thanks to David and Elaine Smith for the dinner...they picked up the tab!

The drive over was a little cramped with two couples in the back of a Honda Civic!

Now where are the Anthony's going to sit?
With the Mexican Independence day in September everyone was in a festive mood with special ties, shirts and dresses.
Love these ties! Even Elder Gomez from the Dominican Republic has one!

Gotta love the little guy for the tie tac too!

Temple Rededication

Well the Temple is finally open! What a wonderful time we have had with that. I am not sure of the final numbers but over 100,000 people visited the Temple and over 40,000 the visitors center! They were busy weeks but now they are just a memory. There was a Cultural Celebration in one of the old classy theaters down town and we were able to go. We went on a bus with 8 other couples and all the sisters from the Visitors Center. What a fun ride it was! The Sisters were just like a bunch of college girls..so excited!

The bus drove by the Monument to Independence down town and the girls all crammed onto one side to see it. Elder Rojas who is in charge  of the CV arranged for the bus to stop so they could get out and take pictures...that is something that these Sisters love...to have their pictures taken!

This monument is a favorite place for Brides and young girls who are celebrating their coming out birthday (15) Quinceañera! We saw a couple of young girls there all dressed up!

Then we were off to the show. Pres Eyeing and Elder Holland were there too.

The theme was the history of the church in Mexico. There was a main story line and lots of Mexican Dances thrown in to celebrate too. It was very well done...a big, big Road Show... very well done.

Sunday was the rededication. We were very very surprised to get white tickets which allowed us to go to the third session and be in the Celestial Room!

There were only about 110 people allowed in the room each session. We are not sure why we were so blessed to be in there...but it was a very special time! Elder Holland conducted the third session and Elder DeHoyos, the Area President, read the prayer as he did in the previous sessions. In the first session Pres Eyring read the prayer in English and Elder DeHoyos in Spanish. I don't know if we will ever be so blessed as to be in the Celestial Room at a Temple dedication again. Such a wonderful spirit there!

As usual we had some missionaries end their missions and new ones come in. This time 11 left and 26 came in! That meant that the President needed 26 trainers. Some of these missionaries are training after just 1-2 months in the mission! We have such wonderful missionaries!

September 15 -16 are special days here in Mexico. On the night of September 15 they have "El Grito"  the shout of independence. It commemorates  when Father Hidalgo led the Mexican people to revolt against Spain in 1810. He gave a famous speech where he rallied the people. Part of the speech was "Viva Mexico!" ..Viva Independencia!" .. now they also add "Viva Hidalgo!" in his honor. the President of Mexico gives this shout every year in the down town square and it is quite the celebration!  We went there in 1974 with my cousin Jim Stanton and his wife Bernice and had a wonderful time. Times have changed and so many of the people we see here now tell us it is not safe now...so we are grateful we went when we did. When we tell people we went there they are really surprised! Not too many Gringos would go. 

We were at Pres. and Sister Anaya's house that night for a farewell dinner for the missionaries and Pres. Anaya led El Grito!

It was quite a sight! Fun Fun evening. Then up at 3:30 to take missionaries to the airport! They are always so so excited!

Brother and Sister Yates left on that day too, they had been here 25+months! They were originally to be here 18 but extended twice be be here for the re dedication. They will be missed here.

So good to get to know so many wonderful people. 

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!