XOTE

Hola!!! This time I'm going to wright about the XOTE water park.

This slide was SUPER FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!There were two slides that looped around each other. one was open one was closed as you can see.

There were these cute animals. Tess realy liked this zebra one:).

This slide was the FUNEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was kind of like an Alpine Slide.

These are the pitchers of us in the pool.

              XOTE water park is super fun!!!!

(There was also a monkey trash canat the begining.)

Well, that's all there was at the XOTE water park, adios!!!!

Reasons church is the best.

    I think the church in San Miguel is amazing. I like it for many reasons. A few are that we learn about Jesus, walk there, and do fun activities.

    First, we get to learn about Jesus. We have learned songs about Him in Spanish, like Gethsemane, We Are Children Holding Hands Around the World, and Follow the Prophet. We have also had great lessons about many things, and lots of amazing talks. So far, we have gone to both wards every Sunday, so there is lots of Spanish practice and learning. We learn so much about Jesus in church!

    Also, we get to walk there. The walk to church is so pretty and great exercise. I really love to walk down Jesus Street! When we walk around the church, we see so many flowers, it almost makes me think we are in Encanto, and Isabella just walked by. The church is in a really nice neighborhood that is really great to walk in. I love to walk to church!

    Finally, we get to participate in the activities for both wards. Tess and Kate got to learn a fun dance, and did a camp all day for two days! Mom gets to be in charge of the ward choir. Dad played croquet and had a pizza party. I get to learn a dance with the Mexican skirts, and I will perform it. I love the activities we get to do in Mexico!

    In short, we all love church in San Miguel. We can learn about Jesus, walk in a super pretty area, and participate in great activities!

CHURROS!!!!!!!!!

 Hola! This is Ruth. I love San Miguel for a lot of reasons, but one of them is the amazing churros. The other day we went to our first churro restaurant, because we have been getting churros from the street. They were delicious!!!!! Here are a few pics.

I love San Miguel. (And churros!!!!!!!!)

Church Activities

 Daniel here. We had a fun activity last night at the church. Ruth was there to practice her dance for a stake cultural celebration coming up in October. She also practiced at the church the night before. The two wards have combined their youth for this dance, since they don't have too many in either ward. They are taking it seriously and trying to put on a good performance that honors their cultural heritage. Last night, for the first time, they had the big faldas, and Ruth was able to wear one and practice the moves that go with it. I believe the dance she is in comes from the Chiapas region. Wendy stayed home again, unfortunately, since she was supposed to teach a RS lesson on conducting and choral singing, in hopes of launching a choir here.

Kate and Tess have also bee practicing to do a dance with the Primary.

The EQ activity last night was playing croquet and darts. We were also going to play fútbol, but the RS commandeered the gym, which meant the youth met outside on the soccer court, which left the EQ without a soccer pitch. In any event, it was still a lot of fun. Several of the men had never played croquet before, and there was a lot of laughing and good-natured fun.

It is great to see the brotherhood these men of different ages and backgrounds have, and they have welcomed me right in. It is also nice to be confident enough in my Spanish that I can join in the fun and not feel sidelined. My time working with an online tutor is paying dividends. After the games were over, we enjoyed some pizza together before heading our separate ways. Turns out they have Little Caesar's down here, too.

Walking makes all the difference

Something we are loving about living close to the center of the city is how walkable the neighborhood is. Our block alone has restaurants, grocery stores, artisan markets, clothing stores, school supplies, churches, language schools, theaters, banks, libraries, parks, gardens, etc... In other words, our entire world is within walking distance, and we love not having a car!

I'll add one more thing:  People here really know how to party! They are constantly setting up and taking down stages, tents, decorations, banners, flags, flower arrangements, etc... The presentation seems to be a key aspect to every event. Presentation, live music, and good food! We are constantly taking notes on how to better entertain.

Most impressive of all (to me at least) is the cleanup. Every morning (and throughout the day) there is an army of people sweeping up the previous night's debris, and even though some of the parties last all night with hundreds of people, the city is always clean! We noticed this two years ago late October when we spent a week in Mexico City. Having a strong cleanup crew really makes the party, and city, so much better. 

Triple court

 this is Tess, today i am going to tell you about the supper cool basket ball court the reason the basket looks funny on the bottom is because it is also a soccer field and the blue lines are for volly ball and there are posts on the side out of the picture, for you to hang up the net.

                                                           mom is eating a plantane chip

Escuela de Español

Hola. Soy Kate.

Hoy we did our first spainish  day of  school. 

It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First, we walked there and  the walk felt extra long because it was our first time. We met our teacher miss Dulce. She's super sweet (as her name suggests (:)

The funnest thing was panting a gato piggy bank.

well I'm of to escuela now. Adios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Temple Trip

This morning we woke up at 3am to join our ward on an old bus for a five and a half hour drive to Mexico City to attend the temple!!! This temple trip was like nothing I've ever experienced. 

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.

More Fun!

Hola! Ruth here! We found this super cool place in San Miguel today.

It was originally used for washing clothes! 

They  planted a tree in the center well where all the water used to come from, so you can't wash clothes, but it still isn't the kind of thing you see everyday.

Contentment

Wendy again.

Today I want to share some thoughts on daily life, our daily life, here in Mexico. 

Daniel and I rise with the sun, when there is little to no one on the streets, and go for a morning walk. We walk right down the middle of the cobblestone streets, and except for conversation and morning church bells, there is total silence. Back home, the only time I've experienced this level of silence is walking during a major snow storm, and even then the snow boots squeaking in fresh powder is loud compared to the silence here. Do you know what real silence sounds like? It is amazing to me how silence feels. I don't think I've never felt so calm and content.

After our walk, we read for an hour or so in the scriptures and discuss the books we are reading:  Paradise Lost and Pilgrims Progress. Truly inspiring. 

At some point the girls wake up and we start homeschool. Daniel starts work in an adjoining room and there we work, together. This togetherness has been better than we dreamed. We feel ourselves getting closer and more patient with one another. Laughter and joy flows in and around every moment, interwoven with stories and sudden bursts of song. Is this what heaven is like?

Even our day to day tasks feel more valued, more real. Washing clothes, washing dishes, quick trips to the corner for fresh bread, tamales, tacos or churros, filtering water, etc... Every moment feels important. Every moment feels needed. I love this. 

At the end of the day we read scriptures together and pray. We do this at sunset. Sleeping when the sun sleeps feels different than sleeping by a set time or clock. It feels natural. It feels like home.

I will forever be grateful for this time. I'm so grateful to slow down and really focus on what matters most. 

Slowing Down and Simplifying: Laundry

 Back home, we have a laundry room with a fancy washer and dryer, super capacity, with steam drying, every bell and whistle, etc. I also have dozens and dozens of shirts, pants, sweaters, and jackets. 

Here, the armoire that Wendy and I share, with all of our clothes, looks like this:

And that's good, because here is our washer and dryer:

Oops, hookups, but no appliances. There is a laundry service a few blocks from here, but we haven't used it yet. Instead, we bought some laundry soap, and we've been doing this:

A couple of minutes of scrubbing, a little soaking, rinse, and hang. The climate is pretty dry here, so clothes dry easily in a day or so. And instead of letting laundry build up, I wash a couple of things every day or two. 

It may seem like a hassle not to have a washer, but it actually isn't bad. It's quickly become part of our rhythm. It also makes you more deliberate about washing. When the climate is perfect and one is rarely hot or sweaty, is it really necessary to wash every shirt after one wearing? Or can some clothes be worn more than once? Can we have just a few shirts in neutral, solid colors and unobtrusive patterns, or do we need to have a huge closet stuffed full of them? So far, I'm discovering I need less than I would have thought, in clothes and in other things, to feel content and happy here. I hope I can keep these thoughts with me after our time in Mexico is over, and I find myself again in a more consumption-oriented environment.