N Q R - Chapter 2

From John:

Well, this is fun. Another morning in Hospital Angeles Mocel. Yesterday, we got up early enough to go to the devotional at the office. Elder Valenzuela was speaking and did a lovely job, I should add. This is the first time Dalene has been back to work, although we were there just the evening before for FHE with the senior couples.

After a short while, she began to notice that her feet were swelling, both of them. She called it the “Little Lotta” look from the old comic book where there is a girl with way fat feet. Wouldn't be politically correct today. She continues to have trouble because she feels like she can't breathe at night; gets short of breath. She also gets quite short of breath when walking. We went back to the apartment before lunch so she could put her feet up and rest a bit. She stayed there and I went back to the office. We had a follow up with Dr. Torres at 5. We wanted to be on time, but the traffic is bad in the afternoons, so we left to get a taxi before 4. The taxi driver took another route and had us to the consultorio within just a few minutes. Dr. Torres' office is by the hospital. Dr. Torres was able to see us within a few minutes. The kidney problem seems to be clearing up fine, but Dr. Torres was concerned about the swelling and heart issues and said that we needed to see a cardiologist, who has consultorio on the same floor, just across the way, Dr. Mario Velez.

Dr. Velez is an older Dr. and was a bit stiff at first, but speaks pretty good english and got us right into his office and loosened up and was really kind and funny. He interviewed Dalene at length about all her conditions and then took her to the exam room and had her put a gown on the top, to do an EKG. She got winded just walking the few steps to the bathroom to dress. Her feet were still swollen and he was very concerned as well. He said that he thought she was having heart failure (then there were two!). Not much lost in that translation. She has been anemic as well and he said the right lobe on her liver was swollen. He said that she needed to be admitted into the hospital so they could intervene if something went wrong and she could have the studies done that they needed quickly, rather than let her go home. I told him that I would need to notify our Church Dr. and that if there was anything very significant they would probably send us back to the US to follow up. He commented that he wouldn't recommend getting her on a plane, that it could make things worse. (That makes e feel better. Not!) 

I called Dr. Stevens and told him what was going on and he talked for a bit with Dr. Velez. We agreed to come get checked out. So they even sent a wheelchair over to get her to the ER with minimal effort. (they didn't do that when I had a kidney stone.... made me walk in pain) On a brighter note, all her information is already there so other than the million forms you have to sign, it was pretty easy to get in.

The did a chest xray, scheduled an echo cardiogram, started another iv, and drew blood. (Dalene: since my viens are so bad they literally hung my hand off the gerny and let it drip into the vial after the lid had been removed.  Yes it was a slow process NQR) This took a while. (They have a quaint way of having patient's family meet them at the elevator. They go out the hallway from the ER directly to the elevator and the family member goes back through the ER, the ER waiting room, through the lobby of the hospital and then meets at the elevators. Probably so they can get exercise. NQR) 

Dr. Velez showed up at the ER and checked on us, as did Dr. Torres. Dr. Velez told Dalene that he had good news and bad news about the hospital food. The bad news is that the hospital food is really, really terrible. The good news is that they don't give you much! ER humor… 

NQR QUIZ (how many can you find):  Que es esto? (brought to ER for our dining pleasure.)

 Great diet for a cardiac patient. They then told her not to eat anything because they were taking her up to do the echo in a few minutes.

The ongoing saga… Where did we leave you last dear readers? So Dalene spent yesterday in tests (estudios in spanish). They drew blood, her IV blew and they had to reset it (never fun) and took her down to do a Doppler blood vessel “estudio”. She came back, having been gel'd head to toe. They did suggest that she take a shower because they were going to put a 24 hour EKG cardiac halter on her and she wouldn't be able to bathe in the mean time. So to the shower she went. Tough to bathe with an IV, but we got 'er done. Silly me, I forgot her curling gel the night before when I made the mad dash to get stuff. Forgot that and her antibiotic. Dang! 

So around noonish, a nurse came in to put her halter on, but because she was trying to eat, she said she'd come back 15 minutes later. An hour went by, so I needed to drop off her kidney stone to the lab. The Dr. gave it to us to look at (no, I don't know why) so we had brought it back to him and he gave us a “receta” to get it analyzed. So down the elevator to the lab, all twelve floors, to get it dropped off. The first crisis was: “but señor, that was on your last visit, we cannot accept this on this visit”. Well, maybe we can, let us check. “We need your 'LMNOP' number”, which I had no idea what that was. Maybe it is on the insurance card. I will go back and get it.

Room with a view - at least  (Bad stitching together but you can see Mexico City.  Pretty with night lights.

(So side-note, this is a big and busy hospital with 15 floors if you count the sotano, etc. They have 4 operating elevators, of which, one has a guy with a radio that overides the elevator and responds to different floors to move patients during the day. So in effect, 3 elevators and a bazillion people. So it is no easy commute and the stairs at 7,400 feet MSL looks like the Matahorn to me.)

So back up to the room, get all of Dalene's cards and back down to the lab, no easy feat. “No señor, that isn't the number we need”. Okay, why don't I just pay cash for this? “Bueno caballero, you can do that. Just take a seat and we will see how this is to be done”. Really?! Okay, I will wait. The entire cast of characters, all 5 of them, leave the counter and convene a special session inside of the director's office to see what is to be done for this gringo who is willing to pay to have a kidney stone analyzed. Ten minutes later, they all return and one of the girls signals me, “You pay here”. So $790Mx later, I have a credit card receipt. “Will you require a factura señor?” Si, says I. “Okay, please have a seat while we figure out how to print one”. Back to the seating area. The lab director then comes out to request the stone that is in a test tube with a rubber stopper. She tells me that she will take the stone, because they need to rush it to the courier who is about to leave. They send it to LabQuest in California for analysis. And off she goes with the rock. “Aqui es su factura caballero, please review it for accuracy”. Well, other than it is showing my address as the hospital, pretty close. “Ah, but that will not work, what is your address in Mexico?” Hmmm, look at your computer screen, we are in a room upstairs, probably the one on the screen. “But señor, your postal code shows here in Chapultapec”. I didn't give you that code, you put it in. Okay hold on, I will go back up and get the postal code from the address card on my luggage, so back up the elevator cattle car I go. Find card and back to elevator. Okay, weird, the down button doesn't read at all. I will wait. Well, maybe not wait that long. I can go down the stairs, I think. Down the stairs. Here is my address including the postal code, Will that work? “Sure, just a moment, while I print this”. “Will this work?” Yes, except you didn't put my correct address in. “Oh, I see, that will not work. Un momento, this address is very long”. Brilliant, I knew that. When one uses Aztec and Mayan words in addresses, they have a tendency to get very long and darn tough to pronounce. “How about this caballero?” Let's go with that. Gracias, muy amable. 

Dang, two hours later, I am hungry. And the lobby for the elevators is slammed. I need the exercise, cue the Matahorn! Up the stairs. Piso 1. No problem, I can do this. Piso 4, I didn't think the air was quite that thin. Piso 8, old guy passing me on a high lope. I bet he was only starting at 7 or something. No, I think I saw him in the lobby. I will just wait here for a second to catch my breath. Fortunately, I can look casual, since there is a heliport on the same level I can wonder over… except for the sweat rings and heavy breathing, no one hardly noticed. Crawling up the last three flights was a bit embarrassing, but really, who will I ever see here again anyway? Oh yeah, we are staying here multiple nights and may be back for additional procedures. Surely they will not notice the tall blonde guy and stop, stare and point fingers and laugh.

Success comes in many forms I suppose.

When I got back to the room, Dalene was MIA. According to the nurses, she was in another study. I missed her in one of my comings and goings. Down in the X-ray labs. Later, (much later, like two hours) back through the door she rolls. They were doing a lung function test with contrast and radioactive isotopes she had to breathe in. (Dalene: They kept telling me I would learn Spanish when my brain was in crisis mode...... I reached that when I needed to empty the bladder that was filling with the fluid run off and the nuclear image tech kept telling me "dos minutos mas" ... "CUANTOS MINUTOS MAS?" "MAS NECESITO PEE PEE!!!!!! "no, señora, only trenta segundos mas", PEE PEE ON LA MESA, MUCHOS NECESITO PEE PEE !!!!!!! (I think he understood when my toes were curling inside the the machine and my legs were crossed).  Not a great moment when you have to walk with legs crossed and make loud moaning noises when you finally get to the toilet.  Even then when I was done they put me back on table for more images with contrast). Said they had her on the table and elsewhere for way too long for someone taking Lasix (makes one urinate frequently). She was happy to be back in room and unhappy to be in the hospital. I think she has hit the wall.

NQR - contrast not given in IV - that would be the two bandaids he gave me.

In trots Dr. Velez shortly afterwards. How are you feeling? Well, like we are stuck in a hospital again with not many answers. All the tests are coming back normal, we just don't understand why your heart rate is so slow. It is definitely heart failure, but we don't understand why. (I wish he wouldn't use that term. I think in the states they would say bradycardia. Somehow it makes it sound less ominous and not as terminal, but I think that is how they think about it here. We all are in heart failure as our heart wears out.) But, he says we will know more tomorrow when the halter study is done. He says he thinks that this looks like Dalene will need a pacemaker. I am dubious, but what do I know. “Bueno”, he says with a command to walk for the monitor purposes and off he goes.

Nurse finally appears to put on the halter. Dalene gets this net thing that is like some kind of fishnet sports bra, a tube thing to hold the monitor in place. Oh, and they finally put O2 on her. It was on last night's orders. I asked about it, but they said it hadn't been ordered. Who knows?

So we finally settle in for a little quiet time for the evening. We had made arrangements for specific foods for Dalene. The food is not what she is used to, so it is difficult. By the time it gets here, it is usually tepid to cold, so that is further challenge. I was able to sneak down to Krispy Kreme and get her a doughnut and 2% milk, which she seemed to enjoy. Okay, I may have had a doughnut too (or two). 

When I had her settled in, I made sure she was okay and went down in search of food. It is difficult to find, other than sneaking it off Dalene's plate when she is through. About a block away, I could see a Sanborns, which is a Mexico restaurant chain. The original is just off the zocalo in Mexico City. It was an old hacienda that is now converted to the flagship Sanborns restaurant. I didn't see any other viable places, so I went in and ate dinner there. They had a hamburger (or their version) that looked pretty good, so dinner was had. I wished that Dalene could be there, both for company and for her sake, to get a little air and food with some flavor.

We spent the rest of the evening trying to occupy ourselves with the travels of the kids, to the meager things on TV and eventually watched a Netflix movie, when we finally were able to get one to load on the hospital's internet. Oh, and we did make several series of laps up and down the hallways, per doctor's orders.

The nurse, Ofelia, told us that they were going to turn off Dalene's Lasix drip at 10, so she would be able to sleep some during the night, although she had some meds to give at midnight. We were awake until about that late anyway, in spite of how tired we were.

It was a relatively uneventful night, for which we are grateful. I was able to get up about 7 and sneak in for a shower. I was two days in the same clothes and unshaven, so I really enjoyed the opportunity. They even brought in Dalene pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, which she seemed to tolerate, at least after I had the day nurse, Edit, warm them in the microwave.

Now it is time to make another series of laps. 

Soooo…. mid-afternoon, Dr. Velez came in to our room. He was very cheery and said to us, “Well, I have to tell you the truth. In thirty five years of practicing, I have always been able to come up with the 'why'. But I don't know in your case.” He went on to tell us that all the tests have come back in ways that didn't agree with what his initial diagnosis was. He said that the heart is strong and that everything else looks good. He was stumped. He said he was thinking that it could be some type of hormonal imbalance or 'paraneoplastic syndrome', which involves some kind of tumor, which he see no indication or markers for. He said that he might want to see a CT of the abdomen. I said, just so happens, I have one from last week in the apartment. He wanted me to bring it in for him to look at. The results of the halter test would be available tonight about 7 to 8 pm, so he would see what they said. He said if everything was clear, he would release us tomorrow to go home. Sounds like a repeat of last week. And he was off…

Alrighty then. I got Dalene set and caught a taxi back to the apartment to pick up the 'tomografias' and a few things to get us through to tomorrow. I had called Dr. Stevens to give him the latest report and he and Sister Stevens were headed back to their place. He said to come by his place and he would give me a ride back, because he needed to see and Elder that was hit by a car and was on floor 9 in the hospital. He had surgery yesterday to fix his broken pelvis and leg. Of course I remembered I left my apartment key in the suitcase at the hospital, so I had to get Enrique to loan me a key. A few minutes and I was back at Dr. Steven's ready to go. We waited for Elder Muñoz and the three of us came back.

The resident doctor was in the hallway when we came in and was talking 'shop' with Dr. Stevens. She is an internist and she and he were comparing notes on what was causing this nonsense with Dalene. She said that Dr. Velez is a really good cardiologist and they had been talking as well and he is so frustrated that he can't figure it out. They all are starting to think that this whole thing is a result of the kidney issue and high levels of IV solutions given somehow triggered this. I guess that is why they call it practicing medicine.

My huggers hurt.

contraband - YES Krispy Kreme is in the hospital lobby.  Had to go there to get any milk.
And for those of you thinking this bad..... below is the breakfast tray with a huge crescent with
large slab of cheese and tomato AND a sugar donut and yes that IS green jello for breakfast.

 CLOTHES ON..... YEAH!

LOOK NO STRINGS TO KEEP ME DOWN AND NO JELLO, GREEN, RED OR OTHERWISE.

HAD TO LEAVE THE HOSPITAL BEFORE STARVATION....... Didn't take a picture of the lunch meal they served that had a LARGE horse type hair in the middle of it.

ONLY LOST 10 LBS OF WATER WEIGHT......

N Q R

Well, yes it has been too long since the last post.  There is good reasoning behind the lack of communication.... Incommunicado por dos semanas.

We have a saying here amongst the Senior Missionaries..... NQR (Not Quite Right).  That is slang for only in Mexico.  Don't try to understand it, change it, or explain it to others.  You see something that just makes you shake your head, or scratch it, face-palm it.... save the energy and just admit NQR.

It all began two weeks ago on Monday.  The familiar twinge of a Kidney stone in my left  flank.  I had been having the feeling that I had something moving because of the "need to pee" feeling and the ache in the lower abdomen.  "I got this", I say to myself.  Familiar territory.  This would be stones # ????? that I have had.  I also knew I had a few in there when I left the states.  I had brought medicine for the eventual occurance.

Leave the office at noon, so no one is the wiser... leave for lunch.  Start medications.  Lie down.  Start the fluids. Check, check, check.  All is as should be until I get the shakes in the middle of the night from pain and fever. That is no bueno.  Mission doc checks on us in morning.  He knows a good urologist.  Decision made, we are to go to his clinic which is attached to a hospital.

Now enter first NQR - Mexico roads and traffic to get to said Doctor.  We arrive after muchos bumpos and no parking.  You must get out of your car and let the valet park as you have to walk to get there.  Good thing I brought a barf bag. Fortunately they knew we were coming, only a minimal amount of wait to be seen.  But El Doctor wants a CT scan so we know where the stones are.

NQR Segundo - The said attached hospital's CT is down.  We must get in the car and drive to another hospital to have that done. (please refer to NQR numero uno).  But I no longer have my barf bag. It was filled and tossed.  NQR numero tres - doctor's office had nothing.... sent me with a little store bag that may or may not have holes in it. No pain meds given for the journey.

We arrive at the other hospital and they don't accept or recognize the insurance. No importante that I want to die or leave the remnants of my stomach on their floor.  John finally pays pesos to get it done (Dr. Stevens had to return to the area offices due to transportation problem)  We finally get the CT done before he gets back.  Take said scans back to Dr. Torres Saunders at his clinic.  Si!, tiene stones usted!  Dos in the bladder and then one blocking ureter.  We have tres options for you... but best you go to the hospital and be admitted.  They "should" take you right up.... NQR NO.  Go to admitting.  We are now on hour 5 or 6 or 7, dilerium set in, without pain meds.

yes, that is the grocery sack from the doctor's office.....  no emisis trays and still no pain meds as the IV pole is naked.

10:30 is the magical hour to finally get in a room and get some meds on board, after being sent to the ER and back to admitting because ER didn't want me. (yes still having the "Past Pain Threshold" shakes).   No food or water, we may go in the next day and get stone, or we may wait a day.

Okay I understand the need to monitor volume in, volume out, but here is a little quiz for your entertainment value at my expense..... Can you find the NQR in this photo:

we will start our quizzes easy for you

yes this is what they were using to measure output, pouring from the bed pan.

So Wednesday they just load me with water, Thursday the doctor takes me to the OR and went in with the basket and laser to get the stone.  Apparantly, the stone that was in the ureter was too big to pass and it had backed the Kidney up.  Tuesday night I had a very high fever and the kidney was so backed up that is was infected.    I was out of it..... so here is a conscious version from John:

It is about 2 pm on Thursday. It is raining outside the hospital and we have the windows open. Sounds like rain and smells mostly like rain. I do miss the Arizona summer rain-on-the-desert smell, but this keeps the dust out of the air. I even hear a little thunder out in the distance.

Dalene went down to surgery at about 0730, after getting a KUB in Xray at 0700. The Dr. came to the room about 0800 and told me he was going down to begin. He said the surgery would take about an hour and a half to two hours. They call it surgery here, we would call it a procedure. At any rate, he was back about 1000 and reported that all was fine. That the surgery went well, but that the stone was stuck in the ureter and probably wouldn't move. He said that he had to break it up and even when he had it in the basked, he had to zap it again to get it loose. He had the stone in a test tube in his pocket and had a DVD of the surgery. He explained that they “never let you see this stuff in the States”, but let me have the video to watch or to copy. We just have to give it back at some point for the hospital records. He also had to put in a stent because the edema in the ureter, which will have to be removed in about 4 weeks. The system is pretty different here. For example, we have all of her CT and Xray films in our room. We are in charge of keeping them. But, I digress…

Dalene was brought back to the room here at about 1100 hours. She was pretty wiped from the anesthesia and has been sleeping mostly since coming back in. I hope this helps her feel human again. The stone was pretty big and she passed a little more on the last trip to the toilet. There is another stone in the same left kidney and we will have to decide if we are going to go get it when he removes the stent. He did say that we will probably be here through Saturday, unless she is skipping by tomorrow. 

We have had several calls and emails from people wanting to come visit, but I have discouraged them so she can sleep as much as she can. They have her on a clear liquid diet, but she hasn't felt like eating much. I on the other hand had a lovely lunch with arrachera and papas fritas. Perhaps not the healthiest choice, but I was hungry. Cost me $198Mx.

The doctors just came around on their afternoon visit and checking up on Dalene. He says that he will order blood work tomorrow to make sure that the infection is clearing up. He says the plan for the moment is to let her go home Saturday morning if all continues well. I am sure if we can get her back to eating and drinking, it will improve significantly. I have her sitting up in her chair, starting on her delicious liquid diet. She is “jonesing” for chippy ice. I asked our nurse, Lupita, if she could get her something that is smaller than the cubed ice. She said, “oh, like frapee?” Something like that. We are interested to see what this turns out to be. Not sure you can mess up chopping ice, but NQR!

Well, they wanted me to stay longer than Friday but since my IV had been in for more than 72 hours, in the morning hours they came in to change the IV. Yes it was a they, two people. Due to my bad veins they worked for over 2 hours to get a new fresh IV going.  They never got it done..... the Urologist said since they couldn't get it going we should just go home.  Okay with me!

On A Clear Day.....

You can see El Popo.
It is a rare occasion that you can see the mountains which are volcanos in the distance.  Due to smog, haze or clouds from the rainy season.... it is an elusive vista.  Enjoy.

Down Mexico Way

This week's post is kind of an eclectic one.....  That is just the way the week went.

FHE - Elder Montoya (Tom Palmer's old business partner from Mesa)

Monday nights we have FHE at the conference room at the Area Office.  This Monday was the Montoya's turn for the lesson.  (they have assignments for lesson and treats)  He shared his experiences that he had when he accompanied Elder Bednar for the ten days he was here.  He is the Executive Secretary to Elder DeHoyos and speaks fluent Spanish, so he was his translator. What wonderful stories he was able to share.
At the office...

We had 4 different conference calls sessions, each on being an hour in length, with kids from all over the northern part of Mexico.  Seminary kids from Mazatlan, Monclava, Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Torreon, Chihuahua and a whole lot more places.  Trying to get an understanding of what their communication motivators and social lives are like.  These kids are from different places and economic backgrounds and fun to interact with.  In between calling sessions it is getting the local pages of the Liahona to SLC.  Sending a survey to all the kids we talked with and stuff.  You know, stuff in between.  Then on Friday there was the Calcetinas Contest.  Elder Hacking was crowned the winner.  

But that is because the other guys didn't wear theirs that day.  There have been some pretty crazy calcetinas under them there slacks.

After the S O C K S contest, we went with the office elders from the Mexico City West Mission to the immigration office.  We had to get fingerprints done and sign our names in a box without touching the lines..... Yes, John and to do a do over.  His signature touched the line. And the elders couldn't go to the counter with us, AND we had to go to seperate windows.  I LIVED!! Yes, pointing and gestures were used due to my bad Spanish skills.  Bad in this case means bad not good. We had to get pictures taken that rival all the worst driver's license photos.  The almost made me gel my hair back off my forehead (Dalene) and make sure that no hair was covering my ears. Mug shots that shouldn't be seen.  We then took the kind elders for a meal at the local food court.  Hamburgers and fries for everyone.  The food court has a Burger King, Wendy's, Carl's Jr. Krispy Kreme, Panda Express and a local taco shop.  The Panda Express and Taco Shop doesn't open at regular times so Carl's it was.  And yes we got a couple dozen doughnuts to take back to their office and ours.

The wall covered with plants by the food court

Outside the office.....

Adventures in grocery shopping. That is what we had.

The American Store..... not big but there are a few things there that help

Hauling the haul.

No we didn't get any of them.
They look prettier than they taste.
 This is the Panaderia.  

We found it at the grocery store!!!

Teotihuacan

Today was a good day. We were up and in the lobby just a little after 8 am, to meet several other missionaries going to Teotihuacan. We had a van rented that would fit 14 (midgets), but since there were only 12 of us, including the driver, we were good. We first had to go by the Temple to pick up the Anthony's (which is an interesting tour in and of itself). The Temple is lovely and there is a beautiful visitor center there, along with the other Church facilities, Stake Center, etc. The Temple is due to be rededicated in September, so it will be nice to have it back open. 

Then we were off for the ruins. As a historical note, the last time I was at the ruins was in 1973(?), when I (John) came in a group to Mexico with Webb Goodman and Rich Christensen. The drive out was interesting, through some very colorful and poorer areas of the City. Suddenly, you can see the Pyramid of the Sun over the foliage. Pretty awe inspiring!

We met several other missionary couples from the other missions, including President Call, who is a counselor in the CCM here (who was also a mission president before) and President Titensor, Mexico City North Mission. Pres. Titensor has a counselor who is an archeologist and former Stake President who met us to give us the tour. He has a very Church-centric view of Teotihuacan. Recognizing that this temple complex was built  and inhabited between 200 a.d. and 900 a.d., It is certainly possible that there could have been priesthood involvement. (Some of the stone was brought in from over 60 kilometers away.) He sees many similarities in the temple complex there and the Church's view on current Temple philosophy. There were some very intriguing things that he pointed out that were very similar and thought provoking. It was interesting to note that there were no homes or stores at this complex. The people lived outside of the complex. It was only used for worship. Considering there is much talk about sun, moon, stars, avenue of the dead, and progression to a final area, where man can become gods was thought-provoking. 

We really only did the upper half of the ruins, from the Pyramid of the Sun, north to the Pyramid of the Moon. I guess they did the first part about 4 months ago with this same man. He pointed out that the complex fell into other culture's hands and eventually was abandoned, but all were aware of it. It is a bit hard to ignore! We were able to climb up the first half of the Pyramid of the Moon for a few pictures while they were moving cars to the next area. Dalene was able to capture lots of pictures of some of the original plaster and colors in some of the surrounding buildings, along with some of the carving. They are amazingly colorful and detailed.

When we left the main complex, we went to a museum on site that has some original plaster frescos that were carefully removed and preserved that were even more colorful. There were also several artifacts there that were beautiful and detailed. 

We also went to one of the residential areas of the complex that was well to the west. It has been uncovered and had some beautiful plaster work and painting. I was taken back that in one of the atriums they had an altar for incense. Make you think they had some Jewish roots. Hmmmm.

It was a lot to take in and since we are the way youngsters of the group, that was it for the day…except lunch. It was almost 2 p.m. and it was time. 

Elder Dr. Stevens recommended La Gruta (the Grotto) that is in the east"ish" side of the ruins, located in a grotto. It is hard to describe how beautiful this setting is.

It is a natural grotto that is quite large and goes pretty deep, with a couple of openings looking up and out, or down and in, depending on your perspective. They have votive candles along the furthest wall, which adds to the ambience. It is very picturesque and almost otherworldly. Hopefully we can share pictures that illustrate this better than my meager description. My guess is that it would probably hold about 500 people. Someone is probably making a fortune on this restaurant. It wouldn't matter if they fed you worms, which coincidentally they have on their menu, it would have tasted wonderful. We had two long tables for our group of 26 or so people. The food was actually good and it was a lovely setting to just wind down and make new friends with some of the people we had just met.

For the record, we did meet the Jones', of the Kathleen Goodman family. They knew all the Colony people, we know as well, and were great company. They sent “saludos” back to the Gila Valley friends. President and Sister Call sat next to us and were delightful as well. Dalene kept the camera busy all day, so we should have some fun pictures to share of the group, the day and the amazing Teotihuacan.

At the end of the dinner, we were able to take a group photo of our intrepid group. A beautiful finish with a beautiful group of people.

Version 3.5

Here it is Sunday again. In some ways it seems like it has been a long week and in some, very short. We intended to get to one of the big shopping places yesterday, but instead walked up the hill to the ¨pueblito¨. It is much more typical Mexico, with the smaller stores and shops, etc. We live and work just down the hill and one would hardly know that it is there. There are car paint shops, hardware shops, restaurants (kinda), laundry-dry cleaners, tailors, and about everything else you can imagine. There are basically two long streets that bracket this and at either end is housing and our business district.

The Dry Cleaners where the owners were baptized by Jayden Sanders and his companion when he was here.

We were invited to go by the Hackings, who needed some fresh fruit. So did we, so off we went. I also needed to start my suits getting dry cleaned. (It has been several weeks, so I better do something so they don´t throw me off the top floor. It was a lovely walk and I´m sure we were as much of a spectacle to them (4 gringos), as they were to us. Everyone is generally very polite, although they sometimes try to avoid us. We found the store that Hermana Hacking was interested in and got what we needed, toured the streets and came back to the apartments.

We had been invited to attend an ´old folks¨ dinner (well, that´s how it translated), by the Primary at Church last week. All the missionary couples were invited along with many members of the Ward. It was to begin at noon, but really didn´t get started until some time later. This was also kind of a send off for the Hobbs, since they have been teaching in Primary since they arrived. It was also a welcome to the the Muñoz´, since they are new and will be taking the Hobbs´place.

The food was very good and the Primary children were in charge of serving us. They were very cute and no different than kids at home, a little short on attention. Made us feel right at home. There are several families that are living here from the States that work for the Embassy or other companies, so their children make this a very diverse ward. The children often speak better spanish than their parents. What a great opportunity for them.

We attend Church in this lovely converted home that the Church bought and transformed into a chapel. It is unusual in many ways and yet has the same spirit. It has some very quaint features in the building, such as arches and amazing windows and ceilings. It also has a beautiful staircase that goes upstairs. The Bishop´s office is outside in a small attached building. Dalene has taken several pictures that hopefully show how pretty it actually is. It is located in a residential neighborhood and is across the street from a Jewish synagogue. There are two wards that meet in this building, the Palmas Ward spanish speaking and an english speaking ward.

R.S Room ceiling

The Chapel doors seems to say to me.......

I should also mention, our very young Bishop (Bishop Arestogui) is from Uruguay and he is also working for a multinational company here in Mexico. Both counselors are from Mexico. He is very much a Bishop, very deep and inspired and trying to lead the ward as any great Bishop would do. The ward here is exceptional. They love the gospel and each other and who could really ask for more.

Bishop on the left, his counselor accepting tithing from a member

We recieved an email from Sandino this morning with a request from Elder Christensen, via the Area Presidency, for some specific photos that he needs by tomorrow morning for a report to the First Presidency on Wednesday. Fortunately, we have some of them in things we have been working on and we also loaded the camera and took it to Church to capture some of them. Dalene was able to get a few and we will try to put together the rest in the morning. It is really kind of fun to get these requests and feel like we are contributing.

The unfortunate part for me is that I stayed after long enough for one of the High Priest Leaders to catch me and ask me to teach a Priesthood lesson in two weeks. I guess we will see how my Spanish is coming along. Our PSD group also is in charge of the devotional in the morning for the Church employees, so I was asked to conduct and Dalene is leading the music. They want us to feel involved. We have a running joke that before we got to this group, there were three of them, thus version 3.0. Now we are there it is version 3.5! And frankly, I am the minor portion of the .5!!