Dr Jeff Harston & Nola arrive.  Gills and Jackie welcome.

HARSTONS MEET DR. MONTOYA-
THE DR FOR THE LATINOS

INTERESTING ARCHITECTURE

THE FREEWAY JUST ENDS

FUNERAL HOME

NEAL at Town Plaza in Tepotzotlan-
note:  Moses' staff with Snake at Bottom

Bridal pictures in the Plaza

Organ loft at Cathedral

The Cathedral with its several

adjoining chapels.  Flash pictures

not allowed!

Jackie in one of the smaller chapels

Beechers, Gills, Harstons 

in the courtyard surrounding the

Cathedral and Convent

BOUGAINVILLA in the Courtyard

Cathedral from the Restaurant

Tepotzotlan street decor

Downtown Tepotzotlan

We loved these African reminders

The kids are adorable here--so intense.

This little lady had fallen asleep.

She looked to be in her 80s.  Please note 

the colorful yarn woven in her long braids.

We tried several times to discover how much

her dolls were.  Neither of us could understand the other.

A fellow on a motorcycle (so kind) stopped to interpret for 

both of us.  When we tried to pay him after, he refused the

money and gave it to her.  We were so touched!

Very, very nice restaurant upstairs in

the convent.  We were the only patrons.

Below is the menu for you Spanish speakers.

Mosaic stairs leading into a pharmacy

along the cobblestone street.

The figure on the right shows the birth

of a baby.  This is a fertility goddess.

These are a couple of shots of the plaza 

next to the Museum and Cathedral.

Another bridal shot just for you, Janna!

Isn't this the cutest little girl with

her red & white striped tights and puppy.

Nola Harston, the two vendors

who just happened to be members, 

and Jackie

A festive outdoor restaurant along

the cobbled street.

Neal and me with the two 

shopkeeper members.  So sweet!

More vendors

June 19, 2015

SPANISH:  This week has been busier than last week.  Once a week, Neal teaches (well, he would say, he talks) with one of the Latino interpreters for Devotionals   This man speaks very well; but he wants to refine his English.  I’ve taken a couple of Spanish one-on-one classes with a darling young nurse, Katty.  She is such a lovely person.  I’m not too motivated, even though we feel continually frustrated that we cannot understand. 

FHE:  The conversation part of FHE was almost entirely in Spanish this week, except the lesson, which was classical (mostly, music).  I have never heard of the performing conductor.  His name is Andrew Rieu.  He is a Dutch violinist/conductor.  The Calls had a 3-disk set of “100 Greatest Moments in Music” ranging from Mozart to Edelweiss.  It was gorgeous.  This performer is on a quest to bring classical music to the common man….no penguin suits—the ladies wear beautiful ball gowns, dancing in the aisles, etc….kind of like the Piano Guys mode with different beautiful European backdrops.  They found some of his concerts on Utube.  He had a young child (she looks to be about 8 years old) sing. . . oh my!  She has a gorgeous, amazing voice.  Her name is Amera Willighagen, and I think she sang, “O mio Bambino Caro” again on Utube.   We also watched Stephen Schwartz sing “Through Heaven’s Eyes” (Prince of Egypt) with the Tab Choir again.  I love that!...the beat, the Israeli influence.  Just a really neat performance.  We ended with Apple pie, grapes, and drink. 

THE WORK:  We had our 3^rd panic attack (collapsed to the ground each one) in three weeks.  It is really an upsetting phenomenon.  I just have never experienced these in my own experience either self or client.  I really feel for these young women, who are so anxious to do their best, and just cope in ways that have worked for them before by shutting down.  I played for Choir, for the Tuesday Devotional; but the next couple of weeks we have a piano performance major missionary here, and she will play.  I love it when they play, because I remember what a thrill it was to play in the MTC 50 years ago, and I think it is neat when the young missionaries can have that chance. 

SEEING MEXICO—P-DAY:  We got up early.  Neal ran, then we did the wash, cleaned the apartment, breakfasted, and we will leave momentarily for a visit to  Tepotzotlan, which has one of the most ornate, all gold cathedrals in the world.  We left as four couples: the two doctors & spouses, the Mission Counselor & wife, and us. 

LOVELY LITTLE TOWN:  We traveled about 45 minutes and came to a small town with a lovely quaint market, park, convent and cathedral/museum.  The street from the parking area to the main street in town was all cobblestones (quite large round ones).  The plaza/park was lined on one side by a fancy outdoor café, and a across the street by street vendors.  We bought some trinkets to bring home later.  We paid about $4.50 each to enter the museum/convent/Cathedral.  It was filled with many old Spanish-looking trunks, some oriental pottery (because of the old trade and commerce with the Philippines), and of course, a lot of Catholic memorabilia.

The Cathedral is something to see….all gold leaf I guess…I don’t really know how much was solid gold and how much was paint…..There were several huge chapels…all gold

with large (bigger than life) statues depicting Catholic Saints and the Trinity.  Again in almost every room we saw the Virgin of Guadalupe…remember the picture of the Virgin  that was emblazoned on the clock of the peasant, Juan Diego, who brought her flowers.  It is the same image we saw downtown at the huge Basilica of Guadalupe. 

After the museum and shopping in the plaza, we went to lunch upstairs in the convent.   It was really, really nice…crystal and lovely silverware.  Neal had salmon and I had fish fillet…both were just delicious.  We try to be VERY, VERY careful what we order to make sure it is NOT PICANTE!

While shopping at the vendor booths, we came upon one manned by members of the Church.  They were darling girls.  We made their day by buying quite a bit.  They gave us good prices.  We had a lovely visit with them.  Their mother makes the articles we bought by sitting straight-legged on the ground weaving on a loom.  

SUCH GOOD PEOPLE:  At the end of the patio-street—cobblestones, we saw a large market.  We only got as far as the entrance where we could see a little old, bent-over lady in a large hat.  Her long braids were laced with bright colored yarn. She looked Bolivian.   She was asleep leaning over some small cloth dolls laying out on a dirty rag on the pavement.  I leaned way over to try to talk to her.  She told us her price, but we couldn’t understand her, nor could she understand us.  We continued to talk to her.  After a few moments in all noise and confusion around us, a man approached us.  He had been watching our exchange from his motorcycle.  He was quite a large Hispanic man and asked, “May I help you?” in English.  He then proceeded to help this little old lady countout her coins and negotiate the sale.

Neal did not have the correct change and there were some coins to be returned to us.  The man handed the coins to us, and I offered them to him for helping us.  He backed up and said, “Oh, no, no!”  We thanked him very much, and then he handed the coins to the little old lady.  It was just a tender experience.  Some of these people are sooo nice.

After our excursion, we got lost coming home.  It is very easy to do so.  We also got stopped by the police, who simply checked Dr. Gill’s license and other documents and then waved us on. 

SHOPPING AT WALMART:  is always a challenge!  We don’t always go to the same Walmart, so finding things is interesting.  This time I had a new experience.  I wanted to see what makeup/fingernail polish they had because I’ve never seen the cosmetics before in one of their stores here.  I finally did.  They had blocked off one of the side aisles, and put cage-like wiring around the back so there was no exit.  The aisle was very tight….hard for 2 people to move past each other.  The offerings were pretty sparce…Maybelline was about all I recognized.  A desk barred the front entrance to the aisle, behind which stood a clerk, checking anything picked up inside.  I bought a bottle of fingernail polish.  She stopped me as I left, took the polish, placed it in a plastic box with a lock on it.  I could then put it in my basket (outside the enclosure) and take it to the check-out, where an aide to the clerk took it to the service desk to be unlocked.  The same thing happened at the pharmacy.  I asked the pharmacist for Calcium.  She gave me the right stuff (I think)  I took the box and started down the aisle.  She ran after me and gestured that I needed to put it in one of the lock boxes to take to the check out.  Interesting method.  It works I guess.

Here you tip the bagger, and the man who whistles to help you back out your car, even though you’ve backed out your car on your own for 50 years:)

Movie Night for the Couples:  We watched “The Gifted Hands” about Ben Carson, the Brain surgeon who separated twins joined at the head.  They mentioned tonight, that Ben Carson is now running for Pres of the USA.   We didn’t know that.  We had carmel corn, chocolate covered almonds, and grapes for dessert.  

June 13, 2015, Saturday:  Today we got up late, cleaned the apartment, got haircuts (both of us…did each other), and helped put on a surprise birthday party for Sister Call.  We had about 65 people come for the outdoor tent party.  She really seemed surprised!

Almost all of the guests were young married & single Latino former missionaries from their mission where he served as President in Tampico, Mexico.  Some came from 18-24 hours away.  All of the adult couples from the MTC came as well, so it was quite a group.  Everyone, including the guest of honor had arrived, and still the food had not come.  We had purchased lovely big chocolate cakes (2) from Costco and two large apple pies and ice cream for dessert.  We had guacamole and a tomato/onion dish for dipping chips baked at the cafeteria, and drinks, but no main dish.

Once the Pres and Sis Call arrived, they called the caterer, and they arrived shortly thereafter, and began to put everything together.  I don’t know if they forgot, or if it is just the culture; but it seemed like they were starting from scratch when they arrived.  There were 3 adults, who arrived with a grill (no matches) and a big container of soup. The lady in the trio had a huge pile of dough, which she immediately began to knead and flatten and squash in a press to make tortillas.   Even though they were very late, it worked out fine because people visited, but some waited 2 hours or so.  I’m told it is common to start late and end late at Mexican events, because Latinos really know how to party.  I think everyone had fun.

They served the food plate by plate.  The fare was tortillas filled with cheese (the safest I thought—safest in terms of being not spicy), and some with stuff we couldn’t identify….it looked like black leaves, and another variety was tomatoes, corn, onions, peppers it looked like.  So, they pulled maybe 6 of these quesidillas off the grill, and served them 6 to a plate to each table, then went back and got 6 more to take to the next table.  I had 2 and was stuffed.  We (the Gills and us) thought that was the main meal.  Oh no, after everyone ate plenty of those tortillas, they lined up for a brothlike soup.  After that, came the main course…we were too stuffed to eat that.  Neal had one.  This time, it was a tortilla filled with shredded lamb…kind of like pulled pork only with a higher fat content.  The Latino women are really beautiful I think.  One couple looked just like models out of a magazine.  Beautiful babies as well!  It was a lovely party, but we are exhausted. 

It is traditional in Mexico to bring flowers to events, so there were many bouquets, sprays and two large centerpieces—absolutely beautiful that these young former missionaries brought as gifts.  They sang Happy Birthday (a Spanish variety) followed by cheers for the birthday girl. 

We cleaned up and then came home and crashed.  It was so hot, I stripped  to my undies and prayed no one would come to the door!  We slept for a couple of hours and then went over to Reception to meet the new Dr and his wife, the Harstons….Cute couple, who just arrived.  They seemed pleased with all they saw.  She said, "You know in "Annie" when she arrives, she says, "I think I'm going to like it here.  Well, that's how I felt when we arrived here."  We walked them over to the cafeteria for supper and then home in the pouring rain.  We were all too tired for a movie night after all.

ADVENTURE:  So Neal and I were walking to lunch last week and decided to stop at our respective restrooms.  The stalls in the classroom buildings are all constructed of heavy metal…the walls, doors, latches…all are metal.  I got in and threw the bolt, and then

try as I might, I COULD NOT get that bolt to move back, so I was trapped inside….well, that is fine and dandy for a little kid, right?  You just either crawl under or go over the

top.  It is not so fine and dandy for a 72 year old fat lady, who cannot kneel down on the ground or get up when down.  I contemplated making a running leap over the top, but that didn’t seem feasible….so, I called for Neal, who came to the rescue, but we still had the dilemma of  getting me out.  If he crawled under….he’s skinny, and could have done it, but then we would have two of us crammed in tightly not being able to move the bolt.

So, it was either spend my remaining days on this earth in a very small metal cubicle or lay down flat on my back on the ground and snake shimmy out under the bottom of the door….but then how to stand up without kneeling on my recent surgeries.  So wonderful Neal just lugged me up from dead flat out……oh, true love!  It was good we had the building to ourselves because it was not pretty....me in a dress and all!

MENTAL STATUS EXAM:  Because the census is so low, I really haven’t had much to do.  Neal has been quite busy, but I have not.  The prospect of 18 months with not enough to do has been pretty depressing.  So, I did go to the doctor’s wife and ask what I could do to keep busy and be serving.  We brainstormed some things.  I think I will be doing Family History and trying to help the nurses here, who are interested in that.  As is often the case, with couple missions, I do not have enough to do, and need to be figuring out what will be of most worth. Because we have had such difficult experiences in the past trying to learn Cebuano and Swahili, neither one of us is very motivated to learn Spanish.  We want to learn enough to get by, but the prospect of sitting in a class and learning conjugations just doesn't excite us....bad attitude, right!  We just know neither of us will flourish in linguistics.  They suggested that I could go to the cafeteria and cut up fruit.....so Family History sounds really good to me...I love it anyway, and feel I need to be involved in it.  

I'm still playing the piano quite a bit...for the MTC Choir and also for individuals.  That may change when the new doctor comes if he takes over the choir.  He may have other plans, and

that is perfectly ok.  I'm so rusty, I need to practice a lot.  Neal is very involved reading a large book called, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon by Allen.  He's loving it.  I've read a couple of short books on the Ipad.  We watched a lovely Netflix movie 2 nights ago, the 2nd movie we've seen in our apartment since we arrived.  TV is a loss for us because it is all in Spanish and the themes are as insipid as the ones at home.

Our mosquito population is alive and well.  We are soooo happy we have our mosquito net.  What a blessing it has been for us.  We hear them at night, but if we are careful not to 

allow any part of our body touch the net, we can evade the little stinkers.  When they bite, we really flare up.  We killed 3 last night, so they are down from the 10 we had each night the first week we were here.  The poor missionaries don't have nets, and the mosquitoes hover around doorways and come in if people aren't vigilant about keeping the doors closed.  They are lousy in the Clinic because the doors are kept open all the time.  We love our zappers and send many, many mosquito spirits to a better place:)

This is the Group of Church leaders

who all went to the Pyramids together.  

Election Day in Mexico City