Christmas in the Piñata Pueblo

Well the people of Mexico are getting set for another Christmas. They actually start before Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving is actually an everyday occurrence here with no special day of recognition. When you ask a Mexican How they are they reply, “Muy bien gracias a Dios.” Which translate to, “very well thanks be to God.” During the Christmas season which starts the first week in November and continues on until the first week of January, concluding with the Day of Three Kings, there are many piñata parties so there is a high demand for piñatas.
Anyway, last year in our old neighborhood we only saw one Piñata get smacked, but we saw ten others go down at the ward Christmas party. This year in our new neighborhood, which is basically working class, self employed folk, many families make piñatas starting with the shell upon which they add brightly colored foil, and crepe paper in many different shapes, from Christmas trees to SpongeBob. We have seen Pooh Bear, Cinderella, Batman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Snow White, and just about any other fantasyland or action hero you can think of. They cost anywhere from $300 Mx pesos to $500 Mx pesos ($21AD – $35AD). The more expensive ones, besides being larger, are constructed on a clay pot. The less expensive ones have a paper machè body which is constructed over a balloon form, which is then deflated and used again. The smallest ones we have seen are about the size of a large hamburger, and the largest we have seen is about five or six feet in diameter. The elders tell us that they are building one about 15 feet in diameter in the next little colony.
We took these pictures on the way home from the church last week. We also decided to get into the spirit of Navidad ourselves this year so we stopped at the papelaria and purchased some things to decorate the house, and we also bought a nice poinsettia. The house looks very festive. Our little tree complete with lights is from Jessica and Levi last year.

The work of the mission is going very well. We have some very spiritual experiences to share with you all when we return. Almost every week we have a very special spiritual moment which is what fuels our engines and keeps us going. These experiences can be as simple as seeing someone we spoke with during the week, who hasn’t been to church in five or six years, come walking through the chapel doors, or witnessing the Holy Ghost influence someone who is struggling with the decision of when they will be ready for baptism, and the complete transformation of their countenance when they receive the witness and make the decision to fix a date.

Mexico City, Mexico Temple Rededication

What a special privilege to participate in this historic event. A prophet of God came to visit the people of Mexico and to rededicate the Holy House of the Lord. This event, the Saturday evening cultural celebration, only lasted 3 hours, but months and months of work and preparation went into the planning and execution of this wonderfully blessed event.
The cultural celebration was massive with thousands of beautiful participants in handcrafted authentic costumes. It took place in the Aztec Stadium, the largest stadium in Mexico. The stadium was filled to near capacity with approximately 70,000 spectators. The event was free, but a ticket was required for entrance. Tickets were available at the churches in the area.
In addition to the actual performers there were about 1500 to 2000 missionaries who made a grand entrance and greeting to the host of admiring saints who absolutely love and adore the missionaries, many of whom are responsible for their family’s membership in the church. This was the finally or conclusion of the evenings display.
It was such a thrill and privilege to be numbered among those missionaries, and for us to actually be the very first missionaries to set foot on the floor of the arena. We stood in the midst of the huge throng of admiring saints and waved our white handkerchiefs, and waved, and waved, and waved, until I thought my arm was going to fall off, and then I kept on waving, and the crowd waved right back at us. We found out afterwards that our friends the Perez family whom we lived next to for the first year, took a video of this special moment for us and they will put it on a CD for us.
Sunday morning, we went to the actual rededication which was broadcast live via closed circuit TV channel to all the Stake Centers. A special ticket was required for this sacred solemn meeting which actually took place in the Celestial room of the temple. Presidents Monson and Eyring were there, dressed in white, along with the president of the temple, and the Area presidency. Those in attendance were Mission presidents, Stake presidents, Bishoprics and their wives. Almost all of the talks were in English and then interpreted in Spanish, so we were able to understand everything. I even understood most all of what was spoken in Spanish only. This is truly a blessing from the Lord. The most miraculous thing was what happened in our chapel where we were watching. There was a technical problem with the TV transmission. We were getting a perfect picture, but no sound. The person who usually does the technical support was not with us, and the brethren who were in charge did not know what was wrong or how to fix it. We watched the meeting commence in complete silence, and the people watching were in shock because they thought they would not be able to hear what was being said. This went on for 15 or 20 minutes of complete silence. At first I was mad, and I felt like I was being denied my first and only opportunity to witness such a sacred event. Mom said, “Be patient and have faith.” Then I began to offer up a sincere prayer that those who had been left in charge would somehow find the solution to the problem and we would be able to view and hear the remainder of the broadcast. I’m sure there were many sincere and humble prayers offered up from that chapel on this day. After a few minutes of a blank screen and no sound the picture came back on with beautiful clear sound, and President Mickelson of the Area Presidency was concluding his remarks. I offered up my gratitude and enjoyed the rest of this very beautiful and sacred meeting. President Eyring’s remarks were truly inspiring, and President Monson as always was magnificent. The one thing that President Monson said that will stay with me forever is. “God gives us flowers in June so that in our December years we will have beautiful memories.”
It was truly an incredible blessing to sit at the feet of a prophet and listen to him dedicate a Holy House of God, and to participate in the sacred Hosanna Shout and wave our white handkerchiefs, in sacred salutations to our Lord and King Jesus Christ.
Love to all Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Marj and Bill Willson

Mexico City Mexico Temple

The temple has been open to the public for almost two weeks now. We got to work there for two days, about five hours at a whack. We worked in the tent at the end of the tour, handing out information to non members and inviting them to fill out a card with comments, and contact information if they were interested in learning more. We also invited them to sit down at a table and discuss questions and or doubts about the purpose of the temple and the church in general. We spoke with about two or three hundred people each on each of the two days of work. The second day we arrived early so we could take the tour ourselves. It was very beautiful inside, and after Saturday, when we took our first baptism with us, we were very glad, because there were over 10,000 people there, and we had to stand in line for over two hours, and the whole tour was only 15 minutes. They just basically walked everyone straight through with no stops for explanations or anything. Our convert, Eduardo, had many questions when we emerged, so we spent about an hour sitting with him in the tent talking. He said he wants to be able to return when it is opened after rededication. He said he wanted to be able to just sit and pray in the Celestial room. We will be taking Alma, Karen, and Aldo through tomorrow. We were able to take a few pictures while we were there, so I am including them in this blog. All the non members were very curious about the Angel (Moroni) at the top of the temple. And almost everyone asked what was he carrying in his left hand. So I included a picture of him as well. We are both well, but the four twelve plus hour days in a row, took a little snap out of our garters. We have spent a little more time than usual resting this week. Today is the thirty-first of October and it occurred to us that we only have six more months to go before we will be heading home. We are not getting trunkey, just a little tired and homesick. But we are quite sure this will pass, and next year we will probably be missing Mexico. Love to all. Grandpa and Grandma.

Tlacoyo (pickled pigs ears???) and the back foot of a cow

We were treated to a typical Mexican Independence day feast, at two different houses. Tlacoyo was the best. It is an elliptical shaped blue flour tortilla folded double and stuffed with either cheese or refried beans and then garnished with nopales (diced cactus leaves with thorns shaved off)which are either cooked or pickled, cheese, meat, and salsa. They were very tasty, but not really our favorite thing in Mexican cuisine.
The other delicacy we tried was Tostada pata de res, we didn’t get a photo of this, but pata de res is the back foot of a cow, boiled, shredded, and cooked with onions and some spices. It is served cold on a tostada shell with cheese and salsa, It is very chewy, and reminded me of pickled octopus.

Cooking Essentials

Just a little advanced announcement about an upcoming class beginning in May or June of 2009, for all domestic goddesses who want advanced training in the fine art of making sauces, salsas and guacamole- Mexican style.
This picture is of a gift from our district leader, elder McElvain. Its Mexican name is Tecolote y Molcajete or mortar and pestle (remember everything in the Spanish language is backwards).
Mom is picking up recipes whenever we eat with members. The essential tools for making these delicious concoctions are this stone ware for the kitchen. Mom will be practicing for the next eight months and will happily share her new found culinary wizardry with anyone who has a yen for authentic Mexican cuisine. We were thinking about buying one for ourselves, but Elder McElvain beat us to it. He said it was for all the nice things we have done for the Cuautitlan zone. It was an awfully thoughtful and sweet gesture on his part.
Elder McElvain is a tall, blond haired, blue eyed, elder from Centralia Washington. He reminds me a lot of Sean, and has similar interests as DJ and Sean; power lifting, wrestling and football. He’s only been on his mission for six months and he is a district leader already, just like Andrew. I think he will be a zone leader very soon. I am including a picture of Elder McElvain also.

Love to all, Dad and Mom,
Grandpa and Grandma

Loren and Jennifers Sealing

Mom and Dad

Loren and Jennifer were sealed for Time and all Eternity on September 6th 2008 and then immediately sealed to their 4 children. It was a great day.

From our point of view her is how things went. Corinne and Preston and Danni and I got up at about 4 am and started getting ready for the trip. Prestona and Danni and stella stayed the night at our house so they would not have to get up at 3am. So the wheels were turning using Prestons car by 5am so we could get there by 9am which is when the temple wanted us to arrive.

Preston drive the first half and we changed positions at a truck stop just short of snowville and about then we got a call from Ruthie who was about 15 minutes behind us. I think Ruthie was a bit worried about cutting it close but in truth, as you know, if you make it to the temple even 10 minutes before a sealing you can still make it. We spoke back and forth over about 3 calls for the last hour just checking up on each other.

We arrived at the temple, going straigth to the temple, at about 910am. We were all dressed and simply went in. The Steevers has escorts helping them and those escorts found us. I went with Loren as he got dressed and we headed to the elevators when Loren was prepared and there met Corinne and Ruthie and Jennifer. I dont know how you could have had 3 more beautiful women all together. They were all just lovely.

We all got in the Elevator and Loren and Jen got off at the 2nd floor to go through the Vail together while I and Loren and a friend of Lorens who was also a witness, I believe his last name was Harris, went to the 3rd floor to sight the Wedding Certificate as witnesses. The sealer came and spoke to the two of us for a moment asking several questions about how Loren and Jennifer had gotten to this point over the past 20 years. He as a very nice man by the name of Brother Simmons.

Then Brother Harris and Brother Simmons and I went to a large and beautiful sealing room. There we were again met up with everyone including Danni and Preston and Jessica all of course looking as bright as a new penny. And there were 27 other people in attendance from the Steevers ward. It was a very good looking group and it was obvious that the Steevers are well loved in this ward. Additionally several people asked which girls were the WILLSON girls because they clearly were your friends and wanted to see your daughters. I remembered the names of Bishop Siler and his Wife as well as Hall Potter and his wife who all said to tell you his and send their love and support. Hals email by the way is Hal.Potter@usu.edu. He is interested in knowing your blog site if you willing to send it to him.

We settled in and waited for the Steevers to arrive and when they did they sat down and Brother Simmon closed the doors to the outside world and started speaking to all of us as well as them. He spoke a bit of the path that has brought them her and how that path was important only because it did bring them to the temple to have them sealed. He spoke about the covenants they had already made and went over all of them highlighting the 4 new covenants they each made in the temple. He spoke of the entire pland of salvation and how important families were. He encouraged them to return to the temple often and the do not only endowment work but to also visit and return to do work for sealings and inititories. He was a wonderful speaker and the spirit was very strong. He spoke very plainly and slowly but with a reverence and understanding the was great.

Then he invited Loren and Jen to the alter and I though he did a wonderful job and the two were sealed together. Both Loren and Jen seem so much brighter or cleaner of clearer or something. Its hard to describe, but they both love each other and it was evident to see. And they were both clearly very happy and moved by the sealing.

Then Loren and Jen stood up and Bro Simmon went and opened the doors to the sealing room and in walked Brandon, Amanda, Dustin, Michael, all dressed in white and all just glowing with fresh smiles and bright faces. They all walked in and each hugged each parent and it was very touching to see how much love they all have for each other and they were all moved as were all of us.

Then Brother Simmon again spoke but this time to the kids and told them what was going to take place and the importance of it. He spoke again of families and their eternal nature and he invited them all to again one day in the future to return to the temple. And then the whole family knelt together and were sealed for Time and all Eternity. Sealed I realized not just to each other but to all of. All of us in the family and all of us in that room. One family with one loving father. Loren and Jen being sealed together was great but this was awesome. It as very beautiful and very emotional. Then Brother Simmon had them stand and look in the mirror and said that looking the direction they were now looking could represent all of the time that had gone on before they had been sealed together as a family and how all of that had lead them here. Then he had them turn and look again at the other mirror and said that it could represent all of the future that was ahead of them as a family.

Following his remarks everyone was able to go and greet the family and we all moved outside and the Steevers were allowed outside for 15 minutes in white for pictures. Which if you look you will find posted here already. I dont see the video posted yet. It was on Lorens camera and I think we were having some connectivity challenges but I will have him mail it to me and I will get it posted here. As we were leaving the temple, Ruthies care would not start and we had to jump it then we went to Steevers.

Following pictures we all (Family and a few friends) went to the Steevers and they had cookies and chips and wraps and sandwiches and drinks for everyone and we all stayed for about an hour and half and then got ready to leave. But when Ruthie tried to leave her car would not start. So Preston borrowed Lorens meter and checked the battery and it was gone. Dead. So Loren took the battery out of Brandons car and gave it to Ruthie and during that time it turns out that the death of the battery was planned by God so that during the waiting time while were were messing with the battery, Billy could dirve by and see all of us and stop. So we all got to see Billy. It was great to see him, hes a great guy and everyone was so happy to see him. He as good fun. So everyone got to spend some time with Billy.

Then the car was fixed and we were all on the road again and basically everyone simply went home. It was another banner day for sure and I know that all of your daughters had both of you in their hears because all of them said so. In the temple Ruthie cried and cried and said that she felt she was there acting as Moms eyes so that she could see. And Corinne who is always a model of composure broke down and said it was very hard for her to see this done realizing how much you would want to be there knowing that if she had waited 20 years for her daughter to be sealed she would want to be there.

We love you all,
Cordell
Love Cordell

Jessicas Blog

This is the corrected link for Levi and Jessicas blog. It has some great pictures from their live including some great pics from Colies wedding. www.leviandjessicaduckett.blogspot.com

We’re getting converted

All the missionaries in Mexico city, plus the CCM. Sorry I could not get them all to smile at once, and some got left out of the picture.

We went to a Mexico City Mission Conference with all four missions, north south, east, and west plus all the missionaries in the CCM (MTC Mexico). All the five mission presidents were present with their wives and families and also the Area president and three 70’s including one of the presidents of the 70’s. All in all there were over 1,000 missionaries in attendance. Our main attraction was Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the twelve.

We were taught by Elder Holland about the changing emphasis of our work. The church wants us to be better missionaries to teach and convert better and stronger new members. Elder Holland said the most important convert we need to make is ourselves. The church can’t afford to lose one single missionary. When we go home we need to stay strong and not crash and burn. We need to tell people how the mission has changed or lives and we need to demonstrate how these changes have made us better members of the church. He said numbers of baptisms are not as important as new members who are truly converted and stay active after their missionaries leave. If your converts don’t stay active after you leave, then you might just as well baptize sacks of sand. We need to leave our area better than when we arrived in it.

He said the only way to do the work is His (the Savior’s) way. If it’s not His way, then it’s not his work. He admonished us to read and take to heart D&C Section 50: 15-22. Elder Holland encouraged us to be better and to give the very best that is in us to give for the rest of our mission. He also referred us to and we read from Helaman 5: 17-19 with his emphasis on preaching with power and authority.

All of this was for the purpose of instructing us on why “Preach my Gospel” was introduced into the missionary program of the church. I strongly recommend to all of my family to obtain personal copies of this powerful missionary manual to add to your scriptures, and read and study and pray over it as you study, that we may all follow the guidance of our prophets and become missionaries for the church. If the ancient prophecy of Daniel which says, “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet . . . and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, (Dan 2: 34-35)” is to be fulfilled then we all need to work as missionaries, and help find the people for the full time missionaries to teach. We also need to help teach and nurture all the new converts that come amongst us and help them to build strong testimonies and strong eternal families. Elder Holland said the church loves to see baptismal white, but what we really want to see is more Temple white.

It made us reflect on the recent Temple blessings that our own family has experienced in this past week, and we are so grateful for this. Of course we wanted with all our heart to be there with you, but more importantly we were so thankful for the blessings of two new eternal family units within the bosom of our own family. Families are forever and we want with all our hearts and souls to see each and every member of our eternal family attending the temple worthily. We want to be united as a family in Father’s kingdom in heaven and continue our association with each and every one of you forever.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures during the conference, but you all know what Elder Holland looks like anyway. I did snap a few pictures of the missionaries as they visited with one another in the parking lot at the temple after the meeting was adjourned. I wish now that I had taken a video. My camera is so new that I sometimes forget about its remarkable capabilities.

Love to all Grandma and grandpa

Rainy Season in Mexico

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Approx. 51 miles per hour in 7 inches of water. Muy peligroso.

This is for all you doubters of the letters from mom that you will receive in the next 2 weeks or so. First let me explain, we do not work sick or in the rain, so today we had two good reasons to be at home. First we both have the runs, brought on by some 4 day old pork that smelled good and tasted good, but really tore thru us like a hurricane. While we were recuperating from our personal stormy weather, a real heavy rain storm hit. It was only one of several that we have had in the past week or so, and not the worst one either. One day it rained so hard that we could not hear a Seventy who was giving a training lesson to our zone, and we were less than ten feet away from him. Any way today’s storm filled a small bucket in our patio in less than 15 minutes and the water in front of our door came to within 2 or 3 inches of entering the house.
Mom talked about the crazy drivers in the rain storms, so I took these pictures to prove that she wasn’t exaggerating. The water in front of the car coming towards me is six inches deep or possibly more in places. I snapped the picture and in 1 second or less the tidal wave he was throwing up enveloped me from head to foot. Thank goodness my new camera wasn’t ruined. I calculated his speed at 51 MPH. It is a miracle that more people are not killed on the streets of Mexico City. The drivers are all crazy.
Meanwhile as I sit here typing the lightning is flashing and the thunder is rattling the windows and shaking the concrete walls. One lightning strike scared the bejeebers out of me. I saw the flash right over our patio, which is outside of the study, and instantly heard the very loud clash. I jumped about a foot out of my chair. It almost scared the crap right out of me. Really! But luckily there is none left. Mom’s feeling better too so don’t worry, just a simple case of food poisoning. STUFF HAPPENS!
Happy Birthday to Ruthie, we are looking forward to the next one by the pool in Boise. We will be with you all, in spirit, as you attend to these two very important events in our family history; the marriage and sealing of our third granddaughter and the endowment and sealing of our third daughter in the Logan Temple.
Love to all - Dad

PS: I am adding a picture of mom and the successful peanut butter cookies, adjusted for altitude.

Missionaries in a cactus patch

We´re so happy.

There is plenty of room here in the cactus patch.

In Mexico the field is green and brown and ready to harvest...but we need help! Please send more Sr. missionary couples ASAP.

We’re Still Here

Aguilar Familia. Edwin, Aurora and her parents.

A wonderful day. Note the halo over Aurora.

Elders McElvain and Sanchez and all of the rest of us.

Birthday smiles.

Troubador.

Dad with the Birthday girls.

Niko the watchdog.

More effective security.

We´re well covered.

It’s hard to find the words to express how we feel. We love this missionary work, and we miss our family, but we know of the two feelings the most important, right now, is the first. The time is passing so quickly, and we feel that we are progressing very slowly. Our very first baptism a year ago was a thrill, but we were only involved in the teaching in a very limited way. We found the couple, but the elders did most of the teaching, and all we were able to do was to bear our testimonies, and pass by each day to offer encouragement or leave off an article from the Ensign or a pamphlet. Now, almost a year to the day after I baptized Eduardo and his wife Angelica was baptized also, we witnessed the baptism of the mother of an inactive 14 year old young man who had been baptized by his grandfather six years ago. This young man, Edwin, has just recently received the priesthood of Aaron and was ordained to the office of a Teacher. He is progressing very nicely, and he wants to serve a mission. This summer he is going out on splits with the full time missionaries.

His mother was baptized by her father last Saturday, after we spent four weeks teaching her all by ourselves in Spanish. This is a major hurdle for us even though she had been taught by her father, she still had to be taught to seek for and find her own testimony of the truthfulness of the restoration. Her son Edwin was there with her when we taught, and he helped us when we got stuck with communication problems. He understands a little English and he helped us with our Spanish a little, but we basically taught her all the discussions on our own, and she passed the baptism questions with flying colors.

The work has its high points and low points, but it is all good. We are witnessing the growth of the church, in the fast growing part of the world. Last week the ward we served in for our first year, was joined back to its sister ward and the two were divided into three. This week the same thing happened in our present ward and its sister ward. We now have three wards in our chapel, and there are three wards in our old chapel. I feel certain that the Stake we are serving in will grow into two or three stakes in this next decade. Both chapels had just two wards each last year at this time.

The pictures are of the Aguilar family and the District leaders. All the elders in the zone were very happy that we had finally managed to find, teach, and baptize someone all on our own. We are happy too, but we feel that it has taken us too long to reach this level, and the time is passing far too quickly, Mom just celebrated her second birthday in the mission field, which means she won’t have another `til after we get home. I slipped in a few pictures of our little celebration, with some friends, the Garcia family, whose daughter turned sixteen on the 19th. They took us to a very fancy restaurant. I’m also including a picture of Niko a 3 month old watch dog they wanted to give us. We politely turned them down, and Michelle the birthday girl was secretly happy about that. Mom wanted a security door instead of Niko,I can’t imagine why. We had fun for an hour or so. Then off to the baptism of Aurora., which was a birthday treat for mom also; she loves Aurora.

We are grateful to God to be called to serve and grateful to all of our family at home for the privilege of serving in this mission. We feel that this mission is the best thing that we have done in the way of service in the church. We look forward to more success in finding, preaching, teaching, and baptizing those who have been prepared to receive of the fullness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we return home we hope it is with a feeling that we did the very best we were able to do, and that we found everyone we were sent her to find.
We have compiled a list of all the people in Mexico that we never want to forget, and presently it is more than a page long and by the end of our mission I’m sure it will be two or three pages. These people here will always be special to us.

We miss you all, and we are looking forward to next Memorial Day by Corinne and Cordell’s pool in Boise. No! We’re not TRUNKEY, just a little homesick.
Love Dad/Grandpa

Update from Mexico June 2008

The Aguilar family

The water tower

Water tower again

Again

Dare to be different

The Aguilar´s - Grandma, Grandpa, Daughter Aurora, and Grandson Edwin

A wounded visitor to our house

Hi all,
We are doing well. This area is a lot tougher than the area we were in, but we have found that if we move forward in faith that the Lord will bless us and the Holy Ghost will lead us. Last week we found several of the inactive families that we were assigned to help return to church. We actually got two unordained young men to return to church and they were interviewed by the bishop, presented for advancement, and ordained. I got to ordain Edwin Aguilar, and we have an appointment to teach his non-member mom. After church on Father’s day we were invited by Sister Aurora Aguilar to eat dinner with her entire family. Her mother and father are members of the church. They went on a mission several years ago, and they have seen to it that two out of three of their grandchildren were baptized. Only one of their three children was baptized, the youngest. Edwin’s mom Aurora and the oldest son were not baptized, and Aurora’s oldest son Fernando was not baptized either.
Altogether we have found about nine people in this area who are possible candidates for baptism. We have found that there are only four really good days for us to, Wednesday – Saturday. This is because Sunday and Monday are our marathon days, and we don’t really get much more than studying, and a few pass-by visits just to check
I think we told you about the improvement in the water system here in this area. I’m sending a few photos of one of the water towers. Each of these towers serves two or three hundred houses. They are huge. I’m also including a picture of a wounded butterfly that we rescued fro the birds that were eating birdseed we put out for them each morning in front of our window. The butterfly died, but at least he died in dignity. We will try to bring him home with us. The other pictures are of the Aguilar family. I don’t know all of their names yet, but they are an awesome family and the patriarch told us that his house was our house. We will baptize his daughter and try to baptize his oldest son and his daughter Aurora.
We are currently in the middle of the rainy season. It rains almost every day. The rain is usually so hard that an umbrella is not much protection, so we get home as fast as we can once it starts. We won’t melt, but walking in the rain is dangerous, because of the creative electrical services here. Sometimes electric wires are on the ground or sidewalk, and the wires are worn and bare. If you step into a puddle of water with a bare wire hidden in it, it could be a shocking experience. One of our elders found this out the hard way. He lived through it but it definitely got his attention. If I get a chance I’ll try to get some pictures of the Mexican wiring nightmares. This is a very interesting country and culture.
We love you all, and we pray for you all every single day. Please have a group hug for us every time you are together.
All our love, hugs and kisses, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.

Rich Family Update

A Few things to update. Seans Graduation, My Dads Heart Issue and life.

Corinne and I went to Wyoming. My Dad, Rex had a major Heart issue, but he is fine. He went into Afib and lived. When he got to the hospital 2 and 1/2 hours after he first noticed a problem his heart rate was 256 beats per second. The heart doctor who saw him said he should have died in the field. The ER staff said that he walked in under his own power and climed on the bed and the Doc said BS thats not possible. They said they needed to shock him to get his heart rate down and he said to go ahead and the told him they would have to put his to sleep first and he asked why. They said it would hurt like hell. So they put him to sleep immediately and the shocked him. Kelly said he came 8 inches off the table when they did it and his heart rate according to the monitor went immediatly to a flatline for about 1/2 a second the went to a normal beat and he was basically good after that.

It is a long story but here are the major details. He was outside working on a used car he bought and started to feel dizzy. He laid down on the ground and realized he was in trouble. He laided they quite a while and said all he could think about was that the cell phone was in his turck just 10 feet away and that he couldnt get there and was going to died because he couldnt go 10 feet. He eventually go up and crawled to the truck and called Mom. He told her that he was no BS in trouble and that he thought he needed to get to the hospital but that he wanted to wait and that he would call her in an hour and let her know. She was at work at the resturant and said she would call back. But got busy and never did. You know how bull headed he is. He made it back to the house and he sat on his chair and basically went blind (from which is now ok) and at some point Kennys son Colt came to see him and found him in his chair gray and not acting right. Dad wouldnt let Colt call 911 so Colt called his mom Cherry and cherry came over and immediately knew he was in trouble. Same thing dad wouldnt let her call 911 so she called Cheryl Kellys Wife at the bank and Cheryl called Kelly. Kelly immediately went over and found Dad in bad condition. Kelly and Colt got dad to the truck and raced Him to the hosptial. Then Kelly sent Cheryl to get His Wife Luane. It had been over 3 hours since Rex first called. Mom asked if it was bad and if she needed to get over to the hospital and the doc said yes and you need to get here right now. The Doc said My dad should have died immediately in the barnyard and that he must have the strongest heart of anyone he has ever heard of to keep on going. Of course Rex is mad as hell that he didnt die. But he seems to be doing good. Doc Perks told dad a story about a 94 year old guy that saved himself from dying and Doc Perks told the guy that when you get to about 90 years old if you get a good chance to die you should take it. But its not dads time yet.

My dad called me every other day this week to tell me hes not dead yet.

Sean Graduated from High School and is a free man. It was tough and go for a while. about three weeks prior to gratudation 5 of his teachers calle us in for a conference and told us that the was in trouble. Two of them said they didnt think he would be able to do enough catch up to graduate but to his credit he worked like a slave and made it. He actually turned in the last late assignement of the final day of school to put him to a passing grade.

Then at graduation we got a suprise. He was one of the Graduating speakers. We didnt even know it was going to happen. As the teachers and staff etc went on stage to sit down Sean went up with them and sat with them along with 2 other students and the rest of the students sat in another place. So Sean spoke and did a good job. He introduced other speakers and spoke himself. I guess the class had a vote and voted on which 3 kids they wanted to hear from and Sean was one of them. He did a good job then in the end said. "Tonight were having a final party and I want everyone to come. This might be the last time we will ever be all together so everyone show up and please follow all Federal State and Local Laws." Then he sat down. That was how he ended his talk. It was pretty good.

Its Sunday and Im looking forward to dinner. For the past few months The Bushes and the Riches have been taking turns having lunch at each others homes and today it at the Bushes but the Steevers will also be there. They are in the Valley putting and HVAC unit it so they are going to be there for dinner. It will be great to see all of them again.

More later,
Love Cordell

The new neighborhood

Local shops

What do you need?

Vegetables or fruit?

Tortillas?

Salsa?

Fresh, raw chicken with flies?

Unrefrigerated carne under the towel?

Ummmm...roasted chicken

Pizza or plumbing supplies?

More fruits and vegies.

More shops...

Lunch for 2?...no way!

Here are just a few pictures of our new neighbor hood, which is only one of about 50 colonies in our new area. This area is much larger than our old one. I’m guessing it at about 9 miles by 14 miles. Maps here are hard to get, and very inaccurate. I had to blow one up and I’m not too sure about the scale or the direction. All I know is that we are in Rancho Santa Elena, which is part of Mexico City, Mexico. It’s not really a ranch but I have seen sheep, cattle, and chickens, tons of dogs and a horse or two.

One thing I forgot to mention, the water system here is different. We no longer have a tank on top of our house that might get filled every day. Instead, we have a HUGE tower in the middle of the colony filled with water. How it gets there and where it comes from I don´t know. But, there is plenty of pressure and as far as I know we never run out....yet. I´ll send a picture when I get the chance.

By the way, if you already have or are going to take, whenever it happens, We would love to see some more photos of the family, you know graduations engagements, new grandbabies, and that sort of stuff. ????? Some news wouldn’t be too bad either. Thank you to Cordell for your recent comments, and Posts to the blog are always welcome.
We are not breaking any mission rules for senior missionaries here. We’re allowed a little more freedom than our younger counterparts.
Love, Elder and Hermana Willson, otherwise known as Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.