Friday, 15 October 2010

The Temple Engineer and our schedule

Our schedule for the first three months, kept two couples of the presidency in the temple for all sessions.  However once Presidente Hilton and Hermana Hilton were trained well enough, we started Solo--meaning
only one couple in the Presidency at a time.  This means we each only serve three days out of the week.
Might sound light, but not for Presidente Hilton, as the 2nd Counselor he is also the temple engineer and  is over every thing that goes wrong in the temple.  It is a big joke here, that if we go over two days without something going wrong, it has been a good day.  Also the phone from the guard shack rings several times a day, as everything is monitored from there--an alarm going off, a door being left open, lights on, etc.etc.
He many times feels like he's back at the Motel.

The air conditioning in the temple works when
it wants to and sometimes it just decides to rest
What can I say....This is Mexico
Can't fake me out, somehow
I can always get things to work

Hermana Hilton has a big smile
as we're installing new washers
and dryers, which includes
all new electrical panels

Refinishing the inside on the font
was a huge job.  The first
time the wrong paint was used
and started to peel almost immediately,
so it was scrapped off and refinished again

While treating for termites, the poisen bleed into
the carpet and caused damage to the baseboards

Oh NO what wire goes where

At least the temple problems are easier to solve
than the mess you see on the streets


He even gets to watch over the gold-leafing
of Angel Moroni

Now that's an honor

It's a good thing he's not over the gardners
or we might find him hiding under a palm

Thursday, 14 October 2010

Loving Our Work Within The Temple Walls

There is nothing secret in the temple, but everything within it's walls is sacred.  Therefore, pictures are not taken inside.   We want you to know how much we love our time serving.  We both feel we can perform all that we need to do to make the sessions run smoothly.  Our Spanish is totally adequate in performing our duties.  We oversee eighty obreroes (temple workers), none of them speak English, a few do not read or write, but they each love the Lord and want to Serve Him.  They feel it is an honor and a priviledge to be in the Lord's House.  Some of the oberoes have been serving since the temple opened in 1999, many are old,  most travel my bus, some for many hours to fill their shift.   Our temple district includes nine stakes and one district.  The furtherest away is four hours.  This is a great link, if you would like to know more about the temple here in Veracruz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K61MEyiD0gA


Five buses is a busy day.....
This day we had Nine

On a busy day, people have to wait outside
or in the ward building

Presidente Hilton was told in a blessing
by L. Tom Perry that he would feel great joy
in performing the sealing ordinances

Javier Sanchez Garcilazo
sealed to
Claudia Maribel Perz Jimenez
and to their children
Yeimi & Itzel

Heber Solorio MagaƱa
sealed to
Yolotl Villagran Estrada

Mateo Gutierrez Beneroso
sealed to
Clara Luz Utrera Perez

Ricardo De Jesus Arzate
sealed to
Eva Sarahi Cruz Porras

Feliciano Tiburcio Martinez
sealed to Monica Avalos Pantoja
and to their children
Yamiled & Katerin
Manuel Perez Chontal
sealed to Margarita Ramirez Alcudia
and to their son, Manuel Samai

This is his greatest  Joy & Blessing


Sunday, 10 October 2010

True Service-after math of Hurricane Karl



How Marvelous is the Work of the Church!!

Wonderful Young Adults
 600 young adults, painted 150 members homes
Homes that had been flooded from Hurricane Karl


These are some of the casas of our members
They had so little, now they have less
 



The help was warmly accepted and appreciated
The youth had done for others what
they could not do for themselves


This chapel was completely submerged with water,
when a 12 foot wave covered it
the water line receded to about five feet
and stayed that way for days
so most everything inside was ruined

Friday, 17 September 2010

Hurricane Karl

Hurricane Karl started on Thursday Morning at 6:00am.
The winds and swirling rain in the air lasted for over three hours.
7:45am our casa was taking on water from the rain in the air splashing
into our sliding glass door guides. By 8:00am our windows were popping in and out
from the pressure of the wind, which reached 115 miles an hour.
Then it seemed to be over, but the rain continued........











However, by Saturday morning all the rains had filled the canals, rivers, damns broke and within minutes, entire towns started to flood. Almost without warning people were forced to leave their homes and head for high ground.


Temple workers we know personally were stranded on rooftops from 11:00am Saturday until late afternoon on Sunday.


On Sunday, we decided to drive to Jose's rama (branch). This is what we found. We were able to get to the meeting place, about 1/2 hour from the temple. But during the time we were in the meeting, the highway was closed and we had to make a 3 hour drive over another route to return home.


Then to make things more interesting 400 aligators were set free by the water rising enough for them to swim over the walls of their confound

Three weeks after the Hurricane, we got a knock on our door at 11:30pm. The scared guard showed us a 6'2" boa constrictor which was crawling up the driveway, right in front of our casa
















The snake was not a happy camper, once he was caged.
It is the opinion that the snake washed down from the mountain and found a wonderful garden of Eden to hang out in here at the temple.


In life we need to remember
that after every storm
the sun will always come out
 

Sunday, 1 August 2010

XALAPA Weekend Travel for Stake Conference

It was a large and busy city . We shopped and bought.

The town had many gardens
The bedroom was awesome, with hand carved furniture

We loved this place and would like to return
The Courtyard
Ate breakfast and dinner in this courtyard, the
table centerpieces were small red and yellow peppers growing in pots
The Hilton's, Bickmore's and Tejada's

Stayed in a lovely Villa named
VILLA LAS MARGARITAS

August Activities


For Months we have been watching
our backyard bananas grown

We are ready for the harvest

Oh NO...The squirrels got to them first


Many times we walk thru' the Hotel Mocombo to get to the beach

The water is as warm as bath water, but really salty

This day at the beach, the women rode on the banana
since we didn't get to eat our bananas

Rob was missing chopping his winter supply of wood
so he tried coconut chopping instead

August 21, 2010
The Grandest Event of All
The Baptism of Jose, Marie and Luis
Check post titled
Jose Angel Juarez Martinez