The HP camera received a proper funeral and has been replaced. Hope you enjoy Dad´s first screen test.
Love to all
dadandmom
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Update from Mexico
4/19/08, This is the Ramirez Family with us.
Julio, Salvador and Linda
Julio, Salvador and Linda
Mom and a jacaranda tree
Dad and the jacaranda tree
The jacaranda tree. Those are the tiendas in the background. We will send more pics when they are
open.
open.
We can’t believe it’s been a month since our last update. Easter seems like it was just yesterday, and yet so much has happened we can scarcely remember it all. Where to start? Right after Easter we were given the assignment to look for less active, inactive, or new members that have not progressed, because of less activity or inconsistency in their attendance.
This work is very time consuming, but much more fruitful. After we got our list organized and began our search we found a family with an inactive father and a non-member wife and an eight year old son. The man invited us in without any hesitation at all, and we gave his wife and son the first discussion, a book of Mormon and the restoration pamphlet. Within one week they were ready for baptism. We thought that the father could do the baptism, but after an interview with the bishop I ended up baptizing the mother and the son. The family is happy, and already talking about the temple. They are going to be such a strong family in the church. Julio, the father, is a retired policeman who acted as a body guard for some important people. He is also a marshal arts master instructor and he has met Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. Linda his wife is very much into music and she has a long time friend who sings, and writes his own music and he accompanies himself on the guitar. Their eight year old son is very bright; he has memorized the Ten Commandments and is working on the Articles of Faith. They are a delight to work with and teach. The very interesting thing about this conversion/reactivation story is, that we learned the first time we returned to their door with the elders, that the elders had knocked on that door about two or three weeks before we did and were politely turned away. I think this experience taught the young zone leaders a lesson about the special influence that a senior missionary couple can have on the people that God has prepared to hear His message. The pictures of this family Ramirez are included with the other pictures we are posting this time.
The tree with the blue or lavender blossoms is a Jacaranda (hackaranda) tree we did not even notice until this time of year. I guess it was finished blooming by mid-May, which is when we arrived. Anyway, there are a lot of them around and they are spectacular. This particular one is very small compared to the others we see. It is near our house so we decided to sneak out early one evening after our work was finished for the day and take a few pictures. When I get my camera fixed I will take a lot more pictures of all the beautiful flowering trees that are in bloom in the spring. We have some very amazing and large Bougainvilleas, Roses, Poinsettias and many other beautiful flowers, trees, and shrubs that I don’t know the names of. If my camera were working and we had a little more time I would send you a complete gallery of these beautiful examples of God’s creative ability. In addition at this time of year we have an abundance of very sweet and delicious seedless watermelon ($.05/kg.) Papaya, Strawberries, melons, mangos, apples, oranges, and every kind and variety of fresh produce for making salads, and it is all just as ridiculously cheap.
FYI here are some other peculiarities I have neglected to tell you about Mexico. First of all, the Autopista (freeway) does not have the cloverleafs we are used to seeing. The lanes of opposite bound traffic are separated by a raised median strip with high curbs and landscaping. No left turns are allowed on all the main thoroughfares if you want to get off you merge right, and if you want to change directions you have to get into the left lane and make a U turn thru a special U turn lane thru the island and then go back to where your left turn would have been and turn right. On the Autopista and other major roads the raised median strips are very wide (@50 ft.), but on the access roads to colonies the raised median is only about 4 to 5 ft. wide, and some left turns are allowed.
The second really interesting thing is all the old outdated automobile models, like the Chevelles, Dodge Spirits and old style VW Beetle’s and the old VW vans, have somehow found their way to Mexico. There are literally thousands of them and they are all still running strong. I’ve also seen old (1941-1947) ford trucks and a pink 1947 4 door Plymouth. Last year in the fall they had a vintage Rolls Royce on display and offered for rent on special occasions. Mom and I joked about renting it along with a chauffer /bodyguard to see Mexico on our way back to the states.
The work is going well the record for baptisms in March for the Mexico City North mission was broken, with nearly 700. I don’t know how the other three parts of the Mexico City mission did but Mexico City had to finish off the month with well over two thousand baptisms. Just to be a very small part of this great work is a privilege and a thrill. This is by far the most exciting part of our retired life together, so far.
This first year has passed by far too quickly, and if the next year goes as fast, we will be home before we know it, We will be moving to a new area as soon as they find us a suitable house to live in, The good news is we will be staying in the same Stake and zone so we will have familiar people around us and also we will be close enough to our new members and families that we have grown to love that we will be able to keep an eye on them and know how they are doing.
Life is good, the gospel is true, families can be together forever, God loves all his children, and we love all of you. Please do us a favor, the next time you are all together, have a group hug, and think about us.
Love, Grandpa and Grandma.
This work is very time consuming, but much more fruitful. After we got our list organized and began our search we found a family with an inactive father and a non-member wife and an eight year old son. The man invited us in without any hesitation at all, and we gave his wife and son the first discussion, a book of Mormon and the restoration pamphlet. Within one week they were ready for baptism. We thought that the father could do the baptism, but after an interview with the bishop I ended up baptizing the mother and the son. The family is happy, and already talking about the temple. They are going to be such a strong family in the church. Julio, the father, is a retired policeman who acted as a body guard for some important people. He is also a marshal arts master instructor and he has met Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. Linda his wife is very much into music and she has a long time friend who sings, and writes his own music and he accompanies himself on the guitar. Their eight year old son is very bright; he has memorized the Ten Commandments and is working on the Articles of Faith. They are a delight to work with and teach. The very interesting thing about this conversion/reactivation story is, that we learned the first time we returned to their door with the elders, that the elders had knocked on that door about two or three weeks before we did and were politely turned away. I think this experience taught the young zone leaders a lesson about the special influence that a senior missionary couple can have on the people that God has prepared to hear His message. The pictures of this family Ramirez are included with the other pictures we are posting this time.
The tree with the blue or lavender blossoms is a Jacaranda (hackaranda) tree we did not even notice until this time of year. I guess it was finished blooming by mid-May, which is when we arrived. Anyway, there are a lot of them around and they are spectacular. This particular one is very small compared to the others we see. It is near our house so we decided to sneak out early one evening after our work was finished for the day and take a few pictures. When I get my camera fixed I will take a lot more pictures of all the beautiful flowering trees that are in bloom in the spring. We have some very amazing and large Bougainvilleas, Roses, Poinsettias and many other beautiful flowers, trees, and shrubs that I don’t know the names of. If my camera were working and we had a little more time I would send you a complete gallery of these beautiful examples of God’s creative ability. In addition at this time of year we have an abundance of very sweet and delicious seedless watermelon ($.05/kg.) Papaya, Strawberries, melons, mangos, apples, oranges, and every kind and variety of fresh produce for making salads, and it is all just as ridiculously cheap.
FYI here are some other peculiarities I have neglected to tell you about Mexico. First of all, the Autopista (freeway) does not have the cloverleafs we are used to seeing. The lanes of opposite bound traffic are separated by a raised median strip with high curbs and landscaping. No left turns are allowed on all the main thoroughfares if you want to get off you merge right, and if you want to change directions you have to get into the left lane and make a U turn thru a special U turn lane thru the island and then go back to where your left turn would have been and turn right. On the Autopista and other major roads the raised median strips are very wide (@50 ft.), but on the access roads to colonies the raised median is only about 4 to 5 ft. wide, and some left turns are allowed.
The second really interesting thing is all the old outdated automobile models, like the Chevelles, Dodge Spirits and old style VW Beetle’s and the old VW vans, have somehow found their way to Mexico. There are literally thousands of them and they are all still running strong. I’ve also seen old (1941-1947) ford trucks and a pink 1947 4 door Plymouth. Last year in the fall they had a vintage Rolls Royce on display and offered for rent on special occasions. Mom and I joked about renting it along with a chauffer /bodyguard to see Mexico on our way back to the states.
The work is going well the record for baptisms in March for the Mexico City North mission was broken, with nearly 700. I don’t know how the other three parts of the Mexico City mission did but Mexico City had to finish off the month with well over two thousand baptisms. Just to be a very small part of this great work is a privilege and a thrill. This is by far the most exciting part of our retired life together, so far.
This first year has passed by far too quickly, and if the next year goes as fast, we will be home before we know it, We will be moving to a new area as soon as they find us a suitable house to live in, The good news is we will be staying in the same Stake and zone so we will have familiar people around us and also we will be close enough to our new members and families that we have grown to love that we will be able to keep an eye on them and know how they are doing.
Life is good, the gospel is true, families can be together forever, God loves all his children, and we love all of you. Please do us a favor, the next time you are all together, have a group hug, and think about us.
Love, Grandpa and Grandma.
Friday, April 11, 2008
More From Andrew
Editoral Note, The following is from a letter from Andrew. We also got a hard copy letter from Andrew which was great. He said in his letter that he is up to 170 pounds. His first two Companions have both been weight lifters and he is apparently very consistant with his daily exercise. For the year prior to his mission he weighed himself to see if he was over 155 and he stayed at 155 or less for a year. so that was interesting. So heres the most recent from Andrew.
Hey mom and dad.
How are you? I’m doing really well. Stacy and mike are doing awesome. We met with them yesterday and told them that they needed to be married. They actually took it really well. They said that they have been thinking about being married for a long time and now I think we might be that nudge that they need to tie the knot. So hopefully soon we will have to help plan a marriage. And what else is really cool is that they also want to be married in the salt lake temple. When that happens I would probably be off my mission and they said that they would invite me. How awesome would that be?
Not a ton else is happening right now. We ended up not being allowed to go to the science center last week. The AP’s gave us permission to leave the zone before they checked with Pres. Francis. So when we were on the way we got a call telling us we couldn’t go. So last p-day really sucked. But today should be better we are going golfing. That will be really fun. We are going with some members. Oh and I took twenty dollars out of my account. Sorry about that, I didn’t budget my money the best. I won’t do that any more.
So dad you said that the picture card thing for my camera has gone missing. Do you still have the pictures that were on there? It cool that you guys are getting to clean up the yard. Do you think that all the remodeling and stuff you guys are thinking about doing will be done before I get home? If it is I would like pictures of al of it.
Well I love you all and I’ll write on Monday. And I did get that package you sent. Thank you very much the little chicken in the eggs things were pretty cool. I gave one to Buckway and we grew them separate. We still have them in water. And they are still getting bigger. They are pretty fun. And sister Bruwster sent me a package with a ton of candy in it. I’m going to write her a thank you card but I thought that was really cool. Andrew
Hey mom and dad.
How are you? I’m doing really well. Stacy and mike are doing awesome. We met with them yesterday and told them that they needed to be married. They actually took it really well. They said that they have been thinking about being married for a long time and now I think we might be that nudge that they need to tie the knot. So hopefully soon we will have to help plan a marriage. And what else is really cool is that they also want to be married in the salt lake temple. When that happens I would probably be off my mission and they said that they would invite me. How awesome would that be?
Not a ton else is happening right now. We ended up not being allowed to go to the science center last week. The AP’s gave us permission to leave the zone before they checked with Pres. Francis. So when we were on the way we got a call telling us we couldn’t go. So last p-day really sucked. But today should be better we are going golfing. That will be really fun. We are going with some members. Oh and I took twenty dollars out of my account. Sorry about that, I didn’t budget my money the best. I won’t do that any more.
So dad you said that the picture card thing for my camera has gone missing. Do you still have the pictures that were on there? It cool that you guys are getting to clean up the yard. Do you think that all the remodeling and stuff you guys are thinking about doing will be done before I get home? If it is I would like pictures of al of it.
Well I love you all and I’ll write on Monday. And I did get that package you sent. Thank you very much the little chicken in the eggs things were pretty cool. I gave one to Buckway and we grew them separate. We still have them in water. And they are still getting bigger. They are pretty fun. And sister Bruwster sent me a package with a ton of candy in it. I’m going to write her a thank you card but I thought that was really cool. Andrew
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