Visitors

Visits from Home


Being on a mission is wonderful in so many ways. The greatest blessings are witnessing the light of the gospel enter into someone's face, meeting so many wonderful people, learning a new culture and trying to learn a new language. These blessings also include the opportunity to see so many new and wonderful things and to feel the desire to share those things with loved ones.

In November we had our first opportunity to share some of our mission experiences. Karen Morgan, our dear friend from our home ward and her darling son Thomas, were in Mexico for a cello strings camp. Thomas, only eleven years old, is a fabulous cellist. Their schedule gave them some extra time at the beginning and end of their stay, so they spent two nights with us. Thomas favored us by playing his cello at the Visitors Center. We also all spent a day in the Zocolo and other sites in the historic center of the city. It was so much fun. We were excited for our next visitors.


We didn't have to wait too long. Just after Christmas, on December 29th, Pat, Monique and all four kids arrived here to spend eight days with us. It was so great just seeing them and having them here. It was so much fun to show them some of the places we love around the Ciudad de Mexico. We would like to tell you about them.

Monday, Day 1: Pat and family arrived early in the morning and we had bad luck finding them at the airport. We finally caught up with them at the car rental (that is another story and could take a whole blog entry). Anyway, by the time we got back to the apartment they were ready to pass out from exhaustion after the red eye flight from Los Angeles and a couple of hours at the car rental. While they slept Grandma and Grandpa went to work. That night we had a great time just visiting, catching up on news, opening our Christmas presents (thanks everyone) and eating.

Tuesday, Day 2: We were so lucky to get several days off work while Pat's family was here and this was the first of three days in a row. We started off by traveling to the pyramids at Teotihuacan. By the time we got on the road and arrived it was about lunch time and everyone was hungry. We decided we would need extra energy for all the walking and climbing, so we opted for lunch first.

The restaurant we ate at is one we had heard a lot about but had never been to. It is called the Gruta (meaning grotto or cave). It is an amazing place. The tables are located down a long flight of stairs inside a large cave. There are some natural openings that bring light in but there are also candle-like lights everywhere. The atmosphere is so fun, the service excellent and the food delicious. We all really enjoyed our stay there.

After lunch we headed across the road to the pyramids. We had been there once before but what fun to go with our family. Everyone made it up to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun which is quite a feat, Jordan counted 240+ steps. Some say that there are as many as 300, but however many they are very tall, all uneven and straight up. Afterwards we walked around and saw many of the other ruins and just had a great day.

Wednesday, Day 3: We started off the day with an early morning meeting at the Visitors Center. We meet each Wednesday morning with the other missionaries for training. We got home about 10:00, had some lunch, got ready and headed to town on our great metro system.

After one bus ride and three metros we arrived in town and went to the Bellas Artes area to see some of our favorite buildings (the Post Office, National Museum of Art, and, of course, the Bellas Artes itself). To our disappointment the Bellas Artes was closed. However, we did buy tickets to go the the night performance of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico across the street in the Hidalgo Theatre. We had dinner in a beautiful old building called the Tile House (Casa de los Azulejos) named for all the blue tile on the facade of the building. We had good Mexican fare and then went to the ballet.

The program consisted of regional dances from many areas around Mexico. It was very fast moving and the costumes and precision of the dancing amazing. In one scene many large puppet like characters came into the audience and one of them asked Ember to dance with him. That was fun.

After the ballet we headed back to the metro and got home around 10 pm. Although it was New Year's Eve, we old folks turned in. The younger ones stayed up to greet the New Year in and some went up on the roof of our apartment building to see the fireworks across the city.

Thursday, Day 4: Today we slept in a little, visited, ate lunch and then went downtown once more. This time we went to the Zocolo and waited in a very long, hot line to take the city tour bus. Once on the bus it was actually a little cooler and we wished we had brought jackets. The tour lasts almost three hours and provides a great overview of the city and helps you to know what to go back and see.

I think everyone enjoyed the tour. We saw some really neat things. It seemed that by the end of the tour everyone was glad to get off the bus. We then headed to a VIPS resturant. Monique said that VIPs were in Spain so we thought that it would be fun to eat there. By the end of dinner we were a very tired crew and we headed back home on the metro.

Friday, Day 5: Today it was back to work for Grandma and Grandpa and off on an adventure by themselves for Patrick and his family. They now felt brave enough to try the metro alone, so they went to Chapultepec Park and Maximillian's Castle. They seemed to have a great time and did well navagating the city.

Saturday, Day 6: Today the tiredness set in for all. Grandma and Grandpa worked and Jordan and Monique headed to the temple for Jordan to do baptisms. What a neat experience for Jordan and one we know she will always remember. After lunch, Monique went to the Temple to do a session and the older kids came to the Visitors Center and watched The Testament. After they got home and Braxton woke up they had planned to go back to the park and ride the paddle boats. However, when we got home at 3:00 pm , they still hadn't left. Everyone was tired, so we decided to make it a down day. We walked to a nearby tortilleria and bought some yummy, fresh tortillas and had tacos and watched a movie and visited.

Sunday, Day 7: Today we had a quiet morning. After church, we came home and had a nice dinner. It is so fun just having them here and spending time together. It was also fun to introduce our family to so many friends at Church also.

Monday, Day 8: We were out of the apartment by 10:00 am and along with our new neighbors Dr. and Sister Brunt, we were off to Xochimilco, the Floating Gardens. The trip is no small task. It takes one bus, three metros, a light train ride and a 20 minute walk to get there. Xochimilco has a series of interconnecting canals and is in the southernmost part of the city. There are many greenhouses in the area and it is quite interesting. We went out on the canals on a large barge type boat (trajinera) with a man serving as a gondolier and guide. We spent about two hours on the water and it was really fun. All kinds of people in other boats pulled up alongside and tried to sell goods or foods of every kind. Mariachi bands also pulled up in boats to sell you their music. After we got off the boat we were all really hungry.

While walking back to the train Grandma saw a restaurant that looked quite good, so she talked everyone into trying it out. As it turned out the food was good but not the service. They brought out one plate at a time with a long pause between each one. It took a long time to feed our large group. By the time the first ones had finished they had to wait almost an hour for the last ones to be finish up.

Tuesday, Day 9: Well, this was the day for goodbyes. Pat and family got up early and cleaned our entire apartment before leaving. They certainly didn't need to do that but it was fun to see how cute those kids did their chores. It was hard to say goodbye and there were so many more things we wanted to show them, but all good things must end and we are so grateful for this fun visit. It was especially hard to say goodbye to little Braxton. We really got a chance to know him better and he was such a joy. He had grown a lot since the last time that we saw him. The little ones just change too fast.

Our Holidays in Mexico

The Holidays in Mexico

We are just completing our first holiday season in Mexico City and it has been a very memorable one. The Mexican people love color and lights and celebrations and there have been plenty of all.

Immediately following the open house of the Mexico City Temple the gardeners began planting poinsettias (noche buenas as they call them here in Mexico). I don't mean just a flower here and there but I mean thousands and thousands of flowers filling every flower bed on the manzana and more in pots in the Visitors Center. It is truly an amazing site!

After the flowers were planted, the lights began to go up, every tree and bush covered with lights. Some large, some small, some white and others colored. In addition to the trees, there were animal sculptures made of lights on the walls around the parking lot and areas of lights on the lawns. From our apartment window we had a great view .

In addition to the decorations there were choral groups that came and sang on the manzana every weekend. They had an area set up under a tent just outside the MTC and usually we had two or three groups perform on Saturday and Sunday. There was always a good attendance and it really added to the Christmas spirit. Each night many people came to walk around the manzana, listen to the music and visit the Vistors Center.

Our holiday celebration began with a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Garvins. Everyone contributed to the feast and it was quite traditional: appetizers, turkey and ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, corn and peas, salad, orange rolls and lots of pies for dessert. Everyone was full and happy by the time we finished.

On December 1st we began our Christmas season in the Visitors Center by meeting with all the sister missionaries at the Center, decorating the trees and giving them small gifts. We then all went to the cafeteria for a wonderful Christmas meal. It was a very fun morning and you could see the joy on the missionaries' faces.

The week before Christmas we went down to the Zocolo (historic center of town) with some of the other senior missionaries. It was a fun outing to see all the lights and the skaters in the center of the square. There were also many people dressed up in unusual costumes, one, a very tall angel. When the Mexicanos decorate, they really decorate and the lights were unbelievable. After walking around and seeing the lights we had a fun dinner and then took the metro home.




On Christmas Eve we gathered at our house for appetizers (16 people total), then to the Scotts for soup and bread, then back to our house for dessert. We took turns telling of family Christmas traditions. We also read the Christmas story from Luke and sang Christmas songs. Afterwards we watched a short DVD prepared by Temple Square missionaries in the Salt Lake area. It was a great evening. Our house is not greatly decorated but we did find a few Mexican ornaments to
give it some feeling of the holidays. No tree but a wreath and some garland did the trick.



Christmas Day was a very quiet one for us but very nice. We talked to all the kids and most of the grandkids on our internet phone and just took it easy. That night we helped present a family home evening for the missionaries in the MTC. There was a spiritual program with readings and songs and then we played charades and pictionary. It was very fun. As you can imagine, some of the missionaries really got into it.

A couple of days before Christmas our ward held their annual Christmas party. Unfortunately we worked and missed the Ward Christmas Party but from what we hear it was a winner. We were told that there was a talent show which included the young adults re-enacting the Christmas Story complete with angels with halos and wings, devils fighting with Mary and with the angels, Joseph dressed in a green metallic suit with a gold waistband and a variety of unusual animals including a Cheshire-like cat. It seems they took a large dose of poetic license. There was also a lot of jokes told, hip-hop dancing, music with a South American flavor and traditional Mexican food. When we got home from work after 9:00 pm, the program was still going strong, but we were too tired to join in the fun.

All in all it has been a great holiday, one we will certainly never forget. Our best gift came on December 29th when Patrick, Monique and the kids came for a visit. That however is another post.

A Joyous New Year to all of our loved ones.

The Rest of the Story

The Open House for the rededication of the Mexico City Temple ended and on the last day, Saturday November 8th. Over 4300 people visited us at the Visitors Center and over 13,000 at the Temple that day. The final numbers over the three weeks were 91,000 visitors to the Temple and more than 21,000 to the Visitors Center. There were more than 9000 referrals from non-members, nearly 5000 requesting missionaries or materials or both. Reading the comments was really exciting, hearing so many testify of the spiritual experience it was for them and the peace and tranquility they felt in the Celestial Room. We are still very busy processing all the referrals. We have to look up their addresses on a map and figure out mission, stake and ward they belong to so that the missionaries can visit them.

On the last day of the Open House one of the PR people came in and said they had just received word that on the following Monday, after the open house was officially over, Margarita Zavala de Calderon, the first lady (Primera Dama) of Mexico would be coming for a visit. During her visit the Manzana was closed for about three hours. As expected, she arrived with much security. The tour started and ended at the Visitors Center. The Area Presidency and their wives and an LDS business leader who had arranged the visit acted as guides. Before starting the tour, they watched a film about the Temple. After going through the Temple she came back to the Visitors Center where she was given a copy of the Book of Mormon. We were working that day and enjoyed being observers. She was a beautiful and gracious woman. She was very warm and relaxed, taking time to pose for pictures and giving the usual Mexican kiss on the cheek to the women as she left. Her comments about the Church were very positive.

Elder and Sister Grow, Elder and Sister Tenorio, unknown lady, The Jones', The First Lady, Hna and Elder Mickelsen, unknown man

During the rest of the week we watched the gardners plant thousands of Noches Buenas (Poinsettas) around the Manzana. Then on Saturday we had a pizza party to thank the sister missionaries for all their hard work during the Open House and to bid farewell to the Steers, a VC couple who were leaving for home. We are certainly going to miss them. Sister Steers was "queen of the maps" and could find places none of the rest of us could. She was also an amazing crocheter and made hundreds of baby caps for our service project. Elder Steers was our "goodwill ambassador". He loved passing out invitations to the Visitors Center to taxi cab drivers and to all the people he met.

The hermanas enjoying their pizza (Elder Garvin and Foley tambien).
They really like to load them up with chili peppers

The Steers at their last mission event

After the pizza we were loaded onto a bus and off the Estadio Azteca for the grand Cultural Event. It has become Church custom to hold these events before every Temple dedication. It was amazing! There were about 100,000 people in the audience and 8500 youth performing. Of course the highlight of the night was having President Monson and President Eyring present. The youth were incredible. They did such a great job and looked so beautiful in their costumes. They recreated the history of the Church in Mexico and performed regional dances from all over the country.

We missionaries were also a part of the program. At the very end the missionaries from the four Mexico City missions as well as Cuernavaca and Puebla missions and all the missionaries from the MTC marched out onto the field. Each mission marched out single file with the senior missionaries in the lead. It was quite a sight. We sang "Called to Serve" (Llamados a Servir) as we marched out and then everyone waved their white hankies at the prophet. It was really a thrill. I am sure we will always remember it. There were over 1500 missionaries on the field.

During the course of the evening the Prophet spoke and even sang a Spanish song he learned as a youth. He said it was the first and last time he ever sang a solo in a conference. He told of growing up with his best friend Juan, who was from Mexico. He said they would be late for school each morning because Juan's mother would make him sit down and eat tortillas with them before they left. He gave wonderful encouragement to the youth and told them always to remember that night.

The hermanas on the long bus ride to the stadiumElder Foley and thousands of others waiting to get into the stadium

Elders and dancers heading into the stadium

Some of the performers in their colorful costumes

More excited performers

Our seats were right down next to the fence with a pretty obstructed view so we were glad for the giant screens in the stadium. We did take our binoculars which Heather gave us before we came so we could keep an eye on President Monson in the VIP box. The binoculars were also a big hit with the elders seated around us.

Not too good of a view from our seats!!

Elder Steers, the Thomas's and many elders from the Mexico City East Mission

Missionaries waving hankies to President Monson

The dedication the next day was a spiritual feast. We went to our Stake Center (next door to our apartment) and watched it. President Monson spoke again of the Mexican families in his neighborhood and his love for them. He said when he was a bishop they had a Mexican branch that met in their same building. He also said "I am just a simple man". President Pinon, the MTC president was translating for him and became quite emotional at that point; however, he recovered quickly. He did such a good job of interpreting. It was a very spiritually charged meeting. Both President Monson and President Eyring became very emotional during their talks. They really showed love for the Saints here. From our apartment window we could see all the beautiful Mexican saints lined up to go into the dedicatory sessions in the Temple.

We feel so blessed to be serving this mission, and especially blessed that we were here during this special time. It is something we will never forget.