Finishing out November

The gardeners gave Bickmore's and the Hilton's new landscaping
with stepping stones connecting our two apartments

Young Woman to the left did 72 baptisms
without getting out of the font



Hermana & Hermano Torres invited us to a Family Dinner



Ate at a Thai Restaurant very close to our Casa
it was EXCELLENT



Attended a Tennis Awards Breakfast at
this Hotel located on the Gulf

Another walk on the beach
but this time Presidente Hilton
stopped for a dance with this señorita

Our weekly shopping trip to Costco
Bought our Pumpkin Pie here for Thanksgiving Dinner
(they make them for two weeks)

Mega, a large grocery store, shares Costco's parking lot,
right behind Mega is another grocery store named
Sorianna's.  We do most of our shopping here

These Christmas Trees are fresh, beautiful and cost
about $100. American Dollars

Full Fledged Thanksgiving Dinner
with all the trimmin's
Bickmore's, Cook's, Hilton's, Yanez's, Tejada's




Don't you just love this Veggie Basket
Compliment's of  Mayrene

  

Building the Manager for CHRISTmas

Check out Presidente's New Machete

Our Day in CUETZALAN

What a find......This ciudad is like going back in time a thousand years.  Cuetzalan is tucked away high in the mountains of Northern Mexico, over miles of narrow windy roads.  Pictures are worth a thousand words so here's your tour of this unique place.





Presidente Hilton preparting to perform with "THE FLIERS" in a religious ritual to honor the sun.  Four men fly upsidedown around a 80 foot wooden pole, with one leg tied with a rope.

 

Town Square

Anyone for a little shopping?

Typical Street

San Francisco Church dedicated to
 Saint Franciso Assisi



Greeting from Cuetzalan

Presidente Hilton and Lindy in the town square

One of the only persons who would let us take a picture

 

History of Cuetzalan 

Cuetzalan (Place of Quetzal birds). Only few places in Mexico could be as beatiful as this town located in the middle of the Sierra Norte in Puebla State. It is the "Paradise in the Mountains" because this location houses some Mexican People who resist to disappear as a Mexican Native Culture in the postmodern world. Local native groups as Nahua or Totonaco still wearing the traditional clothes, speaking the native language as well spanish and continue their Mexican Traditions. Their Mexican Art Handcrafts have singular and distintive taste. The Sierra Norte shows up as incredible subtopical landscape with a outstanding mountain chain, deep valleys, very extensive cave systems and clean waterfalls. Just some people really know that Cuetzalan is located in a cultural place named "Totonacapan" that is the motherland of the "fliers" perfomance. "The Fliers" performance is a religious ritual to honor the sun where four men fly upsidedown around a tall wooden pole just tied up by one leg or holding themselves using a rope around their waist.

TEZIUTLAN Weekend getaway for Stake Conference

This weekend we definitely found the most beautiful part of Mexico. We left Veracruz at 6:30 am to be at a conference at 10:00. We didn't arrive at the Stake Center until 10:45. The Lord was on our side as the conference didn't start until 11:00, so we were right on time. Presidente Hilton got to speak, but Lindy was spared. After the conference we headed further north on a very windy road, which turned into a dirt road, only slightly better than an ATV trail to find the ruins of Cuajilote. The following is what we found and the roads we traveled over.

This was Sunday
Suppose all these people were going to Church?



We traveled thru' several towns,
the name of this one is TLATLAUQUITEPEC
(notice there are No cars)



It's because this is their mode of transportation



This river was crystal clear and the water was aqua blue



We ended up for the last 15 miles on this slightly
better than an ATV trail




It was remarkable what we found

 

The Ruins of  Cuajilote

 

One of several ruins along the rivers of Veracruz,
 Cuajilote was discovered in 1992.
 It's believed that the site was inhabited by Nawa Indians,
who considered it an important site for fertility worship.
No one yet knows for sure how old these ruins are,
although they do predate Mexico's great Mayan civilisations.



A Fascinating Experience



What a remarkable experience,

standing on ground where the Lamanites once roamed.



A Great Day's Adventure 



As always Mayrene found us a lovely little villa to stay in for the night

The room itself was pretty standard, but for $35.00 what else can one expect!

Day # 2 was spent in Cuetzalan, check my next post for full details of this 10th Century European City in the northern mountains of Mexico

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

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 Magaña
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