A Really Big Weekend

This was a very busy weekend, both in Arizona and Mexico! One of the other reasons that Brian went back to Arizona for a visit was because he and Shani were planning on going to homecoming...

This is how he asked her... the theme of Homecoming was "Up" so for several days and nights before he left Mexico, he recreated the house from the movie "Up". He even sacrificed doing his schoolwork so he could work on the house. I think it turned out pretty good, though...

... and this was her answer to him...


this is not a picture of Shani... this is Conner, one of Brian's best friends, who he is staying with while he is in Arizona. He and his date went with Brian and Shani.

This is Brian and Shani...

Another important event this weekend was General Conference. Being in Mexico and not really understanding the language very well tends to leave me a bit empty on Sundays. Sometimes I can feel the spirit, but usually the only spiritual uplift I receive is from my own daily personal study time. So, it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to General Conference! We were able to watch it in English on our computer, live, and I so enjoyed all of the talks in the first three sessions. We also had the blessing to have five new missionaries come in on Saturday night and so they were able to watch Conference with us on Sunday morning, also, which was a treat. Usually we would have received the elders from Provo on Monday night, but they were having Visa issues. By the time the MTC received word on their visas there were no more flights on Monday. On Friday morning we received word that we had the option to receive them either Saturday night or the next Thursday night, so we chose Saturday!

On Sunday afternoon after the morning session of Conference, the missionaries who have finished their two years of service and are going home, started arriving at the mission home.

We had an afternoon filled with lunch, interviews and watching General Conference in Spanish. After Conference the President had more interviews, while the missionaries visited with
each other and wrote memories and goodbyes in each others journals.


We had a great departure dinner and a beautiful devotional
and then lots of pictures and goodbyes to each of the missionaries.

Our dear, sweet assistant, Elder Alvarez, was in this group and
how I have dreaded this day! His parents came to pick him up after our devotional
and somehow that made it a bit easier to say goodbye.

He has been such a lifesaver to us during these first few months.
He has been a wonderful missionary, a great teacher and a trusted adviser.

Elder Tate received the new assignment as an Assistant to the President to
replace Elder Alvarez. He and Elder Gonzalez are excited to be working together!
They are both the same height as President, so the three of them are a commanding sight...

Elder Hernandez, Elder Casillas, Elder Revuelta, Elder Perez, Elder Estrada, Elder Alvarez,
Elder Hernandez, Elder Vazquez, Elder Stone, Elder Gamboa, Elder Arellano, Elder Montero
and Hermana Ruiz in the front. Elder Vazquez and Elder Stone will be with us for a few more days while they wait for their visas to return home...

We will miss all of our great missionaries!

On Monday morning we received eight missionaries from Mexico City, so we had a wonderful training on Monday with all thirteen new missionaries all together! It was so wonderful to watch the missionaries (two sisters) as they met for the first time, even with a language barrier, as they got to know each other and as they bonded. Yes, the American missionaries do receive language training, but they are not as fluent as the native speakers, so there is usually a bit of an adjustment period. It was a wonderful day, though, as we met together and trained them and then sent them out with their new companions. They are all very excited to be here!

One of the reasons that Brian went home to Arizona was that his girlfriend, Shani Nance, was getting baptized. On the 24th, Shani was finally able to be baptized. She has a great group of friends who are very supportive...

CONGRATULATIONS, SHANI!!

Who would have guessed?

So, I know this probably comes as no surprise to many of you, but there are a lot of dogs here in Mexico! Some have owners who take really good care of them, some are free to roam the streets, and some are left by their owners to fend for themselves. And it also is no surprise to many of you that I am always looking for a stray little dog to come home with us... On a recent trip back from Tehuecan, as we were driving along the freeway, I got my chance as I saw one dog who had been left to die. I saw him for an instant as we drove along the road and it appeared that he had a rope around his neck. I asked Robert if he would mind driving back to where I had seen him after we dropped off the elders who were traveling with us. We drove back and had a hard time finding him, as he blended in with the rocks, but we finally spotted him high up on a cliff and he indeed was tied to a rock, dangling from the ledge where he was laying. We stopped and tried to get him to come down to us (he was at least 10-15 feet above where we were standing) but he was either too tired or didn't feel that he could move. We drove a little further down the rode and found a place to pull over. I stayed in the car while Robert walked back to where we had seen him and Robert tried to get to him which was very difficult as he was in his Sunday clothes! Plus, as he tried to reach the rope, the dog growled at him! Soon, two men came by and asked what he was doing... Robert explained the situation and they helped him to first get the rock off the rope, at which point the dog stopped growling at them, and then to coax the dog to safety. If we had not gone back to get him, I'm sure he would have died there because the rock was in a position where he couldn't move from where he was. He happily accompanied Robert back to the van. We think he was out there not more than a day but he was still very thirsty and hungry. We stopped to get him some food and the vet at the store said he was probably eight months old.

We brought him home and he loved the back yard! He ate and ran and jumped and loved the freedom. He didn't want to leave my side, but when I would go in the house, he was pretty patient and didn't bark too much, maybe once or twice during the night.

Isn't he beautiful?
The next day I kept him in the house most of the day, as the gardeners were here to work on the yard. I asked one of them if they knew of anyone who would want the dog and one of the other gardeners said he would take him. This was a real miracle and blessing, because the gardeners only come every two or three weeks and they had just been here last week. I was so happy to find him a home!

Bye Bye Brian!

Yesterday Brian left Mexico for a three week trip to Arizona. He has several things planned while he is gone and I will update the blog when they happen...
This is us in the airport in Puebla. They have one flight to Houston in the morning and one flight from Houston in the evening. They also have a flight to Tijuana and to Cancun. It makes flying very easy because we always know when our flights will be! He will catch a flight to Phoenix from Houston. Brian is very excited to see all of his friends and family for a few weeks. I know he will have a great time!

This has really been an interesting Change! Elder Morga was part of the original group that came in on August 22nd, but he was a Visa waiter, serving in Idaho, so on September 3rd, we picked him up at the Puebla airport. On Sunday we had another training session and introduced him to his companion. We are so impressed with the quality of missionaries we are receiving. They are excited to be here and have wonderful testimonies. Welcome Elder Morga!

New Little One...

We received word today that Larry and Melanie welcomed their newest little girl into their family. Abigail Joy Reeves was born at 3:54 am on September 4, 2011. She weighed 6 lb. 1 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. Larry was actually able to deliver her! She has a head full of dark hair and is so petite! She is beautiful and looks very much like her brothers and sister.

Welcome to our family, Abigail!

We went to Tehuecan today to visit the sister missionaries who are serving there. They actually serve in a small community called Chilac. It was a beautiful drive and I loved the streets there so I wanted to post some pictures... enjoy!

As we left Chilac, we were surprised to see these mountains... they reminded us of Utah... It was a great trip!

On Sunday, we attended a Stake Conference in the Fuentes Stake. Elder Johnson, the Area President, was in attendance and presided over the Conference because a new Stake President was being sustained. We attended 2 sessions of the Conference and enjoyed it very much. President Reeves and I had the opportunity to bear our testimonies along with President and Sister Mejia, the Mexico City Temple President and his wife. Right after the Conference we attended a baptism for two children of the Juanelli family, whose parents were baptized a few weeks ago. Elder Hurtado and Elder Alvarez were so excited for this baptism. A few of the Young Adults came to witness the baptism and sang a hymn. It was wonderful to see so many people at their baptism. After the baptism we came home and prepared to welcome the 13 missionaries who would be leaving the mission on Monday morning. We had a dinner, interviews and a short devotional meeting with them. What a great group of missionaries! We will really miss them all.

On Monday we started several days of changes... On Monday morning we picked up 14 missionaries coming from the MTC in Mexico City at the bus station in Puebla and we did their training in Spanish and introduced them to their new companions.

In the evening we picked up 3 missionaries from the airport in Puebla, fed them and had a training meeting in English Tuesday morning, then introduced them to their new companions.

This week, we had one missionary come in on Wednesday afternoon from the MTC in Peru, Elder Huaranga. He had been waiting for his Visa and just got clearance, so he got a special, individual training on Wednesday afternoon and then was off to his area with his new companion. Whew! What a crazy three days, but each day was different and it was good to get to know the missionaries a few at a time. It was also good to hear the training in English because I don't always know what is being taught... :)

Mission Tour

This past week we had our first Mission Tour. Our visiting authority was Elder DeHoyos of the Area Presidency. His wife attended the Mission Tour also, and they stayed with us in our home. We spent Wednesday through Saturday training the missionaries in each of the zones of the mission. In the evening, President and Elder DeHoyos attended a leadership meeting for each of the zones, also. The missionaries learned about teaching investigators, the objectives of missionary work and the power of involving members in the teaching of investigators.

In the afternoons between sessions, we would go to a restaurant and get some lunch with the DeHoyos’. They are such a wonderful couple and they were so fun to be with. We enjoyed learning from both of them and getting to know them better. They both speak some English, so we were able to communicate quite well, sometimes in Spanish and sometimes in English!

We met with all eight zones, but these are just pictures of two of the zones

Branch Conference

This week started off with another Branch Conference in Chignahuapan. It is about two hours from here and they have about 100 members, but only 20 usually come to Church each week. We had six sisters in Relief Society. I think they had two children in Primary along with the eighteen year old teacher. It really is humbling when you think about the wards we belong to and the amazing leadership and support we have. These members meet each week in a home that has been converted to a church building and meet in very humble circumstances. One of our missionaries, Elder Gonzalez, is the Branch President. The Church is true and this to me is one of the evidences of it.







The members who were there for the three hour block












President and Sister Reeves with Elder Hernandez












A member of the Branch and his daughter













Elder Gonzalez (the Branch President) and his companion, Elder Hernandez (he taught Sunday School) with the Mission Presidency and two of their wives





Driving home I couldn't help taking all these pictures. It rains a lot here and the countryside is beautiful. These are just some of the ones I took as we drove along, over the "topes" (speed bumps)

This week has been full... again. Tuesday night we had a new convert husband and wife over for dinner. They have 4 children who also came, plus her brother who is married and has 2 children. They are taking the missionary lessons. Add the missionaries and us and we had 15 people to dinner! It wasn't hard and I'm used to cooking for a lot of people, but this group is used to different food so I was concerned about what I was serving... Chicken Broccoli. It was a big hit!

Wednesday night we went to a Young Single Adult performance of the stage version of "The Lion King" They did a great job and the costumes were amazing. Each stake worked on a different section of the play, so one stake did the hyenas, another stake did the wildebeests, etc. We have 12 stakes here, so it worked out well and they all danced and sang just great!

On Saturday we went to Africam, which is a wildlife park in Puebla that you drive your car through. We got up close and personal with the wildlife...We had the door to the van open, except in the "big cat" areas of course, and these are all just outside our car...






































































































The tigers were my favorite...