The Basilica de Guadalupe

It has been over two weeks since we updated our blog and the time has flown by. We are still so happy to be here and are loving our work in El Centro para Visitantes.

Weekends at the Center are especially exciting. We have worked the past two Saturday mornings and both weeks we have had three big busloads of people arrive. Last Saturday we had three buses with a total of over 200 people arrive within an hour and a half. The stakes and wards in the area often rent buses and then either the missionaries or sometimes the bishop will organize a group, usually consisting of investigators, newly baptized members, and other members and bring them to the Center. They start their tour with the Christus presentation and then usually watch a Church movie. The most popular ones are The Testament and The Restoration. The children also really enjoy some of the interactive displays at the Center. During the week we usually have two sets of sisters working with us in the Center. On Saturdays we have four sets and they really keep busy. It is so wonderful to see them with the large groups and how well they relate to the visitors.

We work every other Sunday from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm. Sundays are also busy days, but it is largely member families bringing their children after church to watch a video. On Sunday evenings we often have concerts. It is a joy to watch the Mexican families. The parents show such affection for their children and they take such good care of them. Even the poorer families seem to always have their children so well dressed and they are very patient with them and the children seem exceptionally well behaved.

Janice has taken on an added responsibility. The doctor who lives across the hall in our apartment building gives immunizations to the missionaries in the MTC here. He has asked her to help him out. It is a good chance for her to practice Spanish since all of these missionaries are natives. She especially needs to know how to say "relax," "you are so brave," "have a candy." Her vocabulary continues to grow. Actually she enjoys seeing how dramatic some of the elders and sisters are.

On the 18th of June we had to go to Immigration to be fingerprinted and fill out some paperwork. It took an hour’s cab ride to get there, We were somewhat concerned not knowing what to expect but it turned out to be a very easy process and did not take long. The Immigration office is in a lovely part of Mexico City and since it was our day off we decided to explore. We found some nice malls and were even brave enough to both get our hair cut. We were both pretty pleased with the results although it was a little scary not knowing what we were getting into. We then had lunch and decided to walk to the Metro to go home. It was quite a long walk and we saw some really interesting things along the way. One was an amazing mall called Palacio de Hierro. This mall is very high class with a beautiful fountain in front and exclusive stores inside. We were too tired to explore but we might go back sometime.

That night when we got back we went to a farewell party for the DeHoyos, the cute young couple that lived in our building. He recently got a new job in Puebla which is where they are from. So they left and took their cute little Alberto with them. We now are without any babies in the building to grandparent.

Basilica de Guadalupe
On June 26th we went to the Basilica of Guadalupe with Paul and Ellen Garvin. Besides the fact that Paul and Ellen are great company and very knowledgeable about the area, they have a car and we didn’t have to fight the public transportation system.

The Basilica is very famous. In fact, John McCain during his recent diplomatic trip to Mexico went to see it the other day. The Basilica is not just another old Catholic church but is the central place of worship for Mexico’s patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe. The Virgin unites the native Indian religions of Mexico with Catholicism. The blue-mantled Virgin of Guadalupe is the most revered image in Mexico, and you will see her countenance wherever you travel. The Basilica may be the second most visited shrine in all the Catholic world, second only to St. Peter's in Rome.

The Basilica occupies the site where, on December 9, 1531, legend tells that a poor Indian named Juan Diego saw a vision of a beautiful lady in a blue mantle. The local bishop was reluctant to confirm that he had indeed seen the Virgin Mary, so he asked the peasant for evidence. Juan Diego saw the vision a second time, on December 12, and when he asked her for proof, she instructed him to collect the roses that began blooming in the rocky soil at his feet. He gathered the flowers in his cloak and returned to the bishop. When he unfurled his cloak, the flowers dropped to the ground and the image of the Virgin was miraculously imprinted on the rough-hewn cloth. The bishop immediately ordered the building of a church on the spot, and upon its completion, the cloth with the Virgin's image was hung in a place of honor, framed in gold.
Since that time, millions of the devout and the curious have come to view the miraculous image that experts, it is said, are at a loss to explain. So heavy was the flow of visitors -- many approached for hundreds of yards on their knees -- that the old church, already fragile, was insufficient to handle them. A magnificent new Basilica was opened in 1987.

The spacious grounds of the Basilica house not only the new and old Basilicas but are also surrounded by other Catholic churches, magnificent gardens, fountains, statues, a museum of religious icons and paintings. It was indeed a time well spent. It is further evidence, however, of how deeply ingrained the Catholic religion is to the people of Mexico and the challenges in teaching the gospel here.

In spite of the strong Catholic influence the gospel is true and we are seeing many of these humble Mexican people accept it. We process around 2000 referrals at the Visitors Center each month and see many baptisms resulting. It is so exciting to be even a small part of this wonderful work.