First, Ruth and I arrived a minute before the other youth to the rear entrance of the temple to do baptisms. I was so surprised to find that the door was locked! We could see many people inside, so I pulled the door 5 or 6 times, thinking there was some trick to it, and after a little while a little old man in white came to the door, cracked it open, and said, "What is wanted?" I was so confused that I all I could say was, "We're here to do baptisms?" He gave me a confused look, then closed the door again.
A minute later our bishop came knocked on the door again. The same man came to the door and gave the same request. This time he had a clipboard with him and proceeded to tell our bishop that the baptismal font already had someone there. When was your appointment? The bishop gently pleaded and explained that he made an appointment two weeks ago for the youth of our ward. After much deliberation and waiting, they agreed to let us in, but only if each youth only performed one baptism. Our bishop was gracious and in we went!
The font and chapel inside the temple were bursting at the seams and very chaotic. That explained so much.
Ruth was quickly handed a jumpsuit (very large), she changed her clothes (in a very small and crowded locker room), and then we sat together in the chapel overlooking the baptismal font and quietly chatted for about an hour while we waited her turn. You should have seen the look of surprise on her face when she got in the font! A mixture of joy and shock, as the water was ice cold! At least the shower was a little bit warmer, if only a little. She was shivering just a bit. Maybe there wasn't enough hot water to go around?!
I've gone to the temple with Ruth every month since January. I've never seen so much joy and excitement as I saw here in Mexico City. I've never seen so many people at the temple! Literally thousands.
And to be here with the wonderful members of our ward made everything that much sweeter. They are so kind! So meek. Not once did I hear anyone complain that the drive took much longer than expected (both directions). No one complained that the bus driver seemed to be young and completely lost. No one said a word about how rickety the bus sounded or how the heater was unnecessarily set to an extremely hot temperature. They were smiling, laughing, talking, loving one another. We found out that they make this trip (each paying their own way) every 2 or 3 months! I know more than ever what Elder Maxwell meant when he said, "The meek can take it."
After being with Ruth, I switched places with Daniel in the visitor center and stayed with Ruth, Tess and Kate so he could have a turn inside the temple. As we walked around the visitors center and the grounds, neither of us could get over how many families were there! I had a realization that hundreds of families had come to the temple today. The Mexico City temple complex is quite large, and boy do they ever need it! As I watched, a seemingly endless stream of saints were flowing in and out of the temple. It was truly incredible and we felt like we were walking around the City of Enoch.
Family after family, bus after bus kept arriving. There must have been thousands of faithful saints worshiping, most with their families, at the temple today. It was almost like the grounds of Temple Square at General Conference time. I now know what it truly means to worship with your family at the temple. The visitor center is large, and they have many different theaters, displays, and activities for children of all ages, like scripture games, hidden object searches, a Bible lands replica, puppet shows, a Christus statue room, and displays about the history of the Church in Mexico. Despite having so many activities, the building was bursting at the seams with beautiful children waiting for their parents to return from inside the temple. I sat by a window for about an hour and watched two or three dozen mothers and fathers pushing strollers, pointing to the temple to teach their infants about their covenant family relationships.
They have announced and are building four more temples in the Mexico City area. They may need ten or more to accommodate all the saints who want to worship here and perform temple work for their ancestors!
Daniel and the Lion's Den Puppet Show
Then to top it all, after Daniel finished we went across the street to a little stand selling sandwiches. Most of the customers (at least 100) were in Sunday clothes and had clearly come from the temple. The sandwiches had cool names like "Moroni," "Nephi," "Laban," and "Coriantumur!" Ruth said her sandwich was one of the best she'd ever had. The sandwiches were huge, and two sandwiches shared was more than our family could finish before we had to leave (the wait for the sandwiches was about 50 minutes because they had so many clients, and the employees kept leaving and returning with huge bags of sausages, cleaning supplies, etc.) And with a long ride home, it was probably best we didn't eat too much, since a few of us are prone to motion sickness.
Now we are back on the bus with around four hours to go. I'm grateful to have a minute to write this post before I forget how heavenly this temple trip has been. I love Mexico!
(UPDATE)
I thought I was done on the bus, but the most incredible thing happened when the bus arrived back in San Miguel. It was raining. Not just any rain, monsoon rain. The biggest thunderstorm I've seen since perhaps living in Manila. All the of streets were now rivers. Every rainspout was pouring many gallons of water per second. Our elder's quorum president was so kind as to give us a ride home, and we were ever so grateful because there is no question that Kate would have been swept away had we tried to walk home. It was very dangerous and unusual hearing the car get pounded with rain in that way. It felt like driving through a car wash, with the rain spouts pouring torrents of water into the middle of the road, right on top of the car. There were several moments when we all felt like we would be washed away. I tried to get some pictures when we got home, but unfortunately/fortunately our street was not one of the ones with the raging rivers on it. What a day!
Sunday morning the rivers were gone and everything was back to normal, dry as a bone. This city is amazing.
