10/9/2012

   There is gas leaking somewhere in the area of our stove but we can't find out where.  We have shut off the gas but turn it on to cook then back off.  The apartment just smells like gas so that's a little scary.  Today was a mostly study day - which I badly needed!  Scott spent a good part of the day doing missionary work with some of his friends here.  I had promised Wilton that I would make some Cheerio treats for Josey.  They use the word concubine very matter of factly here; it's no big deal to be living with someone you are not married to.  He supposedly moved out of the place they had together but he still takes good care of her because she makes even less money than he does.  So who knows what really is going on! She needs to know that someone cares about her though.  This is such a different society.  Everyone is looking for love and security but few seem to know where to find it so they just keep looking in all the wrong places.  (Maybe that is not different after all)
   We went to the temple tonight.  There weren't many people there but the Leavitts and the Yturraldes were working so it was fun to see them.  They have been paving the streets here in the city so when we came out there was traffic backed up forever.  The four blocks to our house ended up to be 45 minutes!  It started to rain while we were waiting in traffic and by the time we got to our apartment it was pouring  I can't believe how hard it rains here.  I can only remember a few times at home that it rained like this.  They say by November it should quit raining. You might think the rain cools it down here, but no... The rain is so warm it feels like a shower.
   
   

10/8/2012

Mi espouso's birthday!  He must have been  such a cute baby. His hair is a little grayer but he just keeps getting better with age.
 It has rained most of the day - again.We were awakened by loud thunder again early this morning, you know the kind that makes the windows rattle and shake and sets every car alarm in the area off.
  We have two garbage cans to catch the constantly dripping water from the air conditioner.  It is so hot and humid that if it still works we run it.
  We had two Spanish classes today.  Then we were hosts for family home evening.  We had given each of the couples the assignment to come with a scripture that had helped them in some way and that had special meaning to them.  One of the couples from Littleton, Colorado told about being in the middle of the Columbine shooting.  She is a psychiatrist and was asked just weeks before the shooting by the Red Cross to set up an emergency mental help facility.  She told about the Relief Societies there making blankets by the hundreds for the kids that were so traumatized by the event.  It was fascinating to hear about that from someone who was so involved with the healing process for the school kids and the community.  She is the new mental health person for the area here. Her name is Sister Merino.
   We had a welcome party for the two new couples - the Merinos and the Schmidts.  They have this silly birthday hat they make everyone wear on their birthday - Brother Cuenot's birthday was celebrated with Scott's.

The missionaries came in and sang an opening song for us.  Notice how many of them are white.

You can't really tell by the picture  but there are about 30 latin missionaries and 5 Americans.
We got home and talked to some of our kids and grandkids so that was a great end to the day.

10/7/2012 Conference Weekend

    It is amazing how quite it is here to listen to conference!  The Sister Yturralde came down to listen at noon ( the first session here) and brought speakers for her computer.  So it was like conference in stereo.  Spelling is a challenge these days because nothing looks right anymore! As I thought of Sister Burton's talk "First observe, then serve" I thought of our children who are so great at that! We don't have to look very far to find someone in need around us.  Every time I listen to conference I realize how important what we are continually taught is - maybe some day we will be perfect in being more like Christ.  I have a long way to go but really want to get there!  We are so blessed to have living prophets and apostles. Brother Yturralde went out to the branch they help this morning and came back for the late session.  It must have been a hard morning:

The rest of us remained awake and alert - most of the time!  It was strange not having lessons yesterday and today. We will be adding two more groups next week.  The more the merrier!

10/6/2012

Scott will be home from priesthood meeting soon and I haven't even started to blog -
The Uturaldies don't have internet so they came down and had lunch with us and watched conference.  It didn't start here until noon.  What a great idea to lower the age of missionaries.We all know that the girls are much more mature at 19 than the boys so that is great for them. It seemed to me that much of the theme of conference was on how important it is to have a strong home because the world no longer supports a value system of any kind.  It is so evident here where the gospel is fairly new how important teaching kids in your home is.  I am so grateful for having been a member of the church all of my life. Even though I did not make good choices at times, I still knew what I had been taught was true.  These kids don't even know there is a good choice because they are surrounded by immorality at every turn and think it is just the way people live, which it is.  L.Tom Perry said strong family culture provides a layer of protection for our children, I know also that should be our first priority.  I am so grateful for the time I have been blessed to spend with my family.  Today's meetings were filled with advice on how to live our lives, to help our families, and serve others.  I loved it!  I am so grateful my grandchildren are being raised in the gospel - it will be a great help to them as they meet the trials and temptations that face them as they grow.  While some think the gospel deprives them of freedom, I know that the gospel actually frees you so you are not bound by habits that bring only unhappiness.
 We have had so many electrical storms here this past two weeks. It seems to be so close because it is very  noisy- then someone mentioned that it is so loud in our apartments because we have nothing to absorb some of the noise.  No carpet, few curtains, etc. In fact I don't remember when I saw carpet last.  Anyway, it is raining again.  They should not have to worry about drought this year!! 
   We are so grateful to our kids who have been working on our yard this weekend.  It's a little scary to see pictures of your daughters driving the big backhoe though.  How we love them!
   Doesn't it seem like conference is the peace in the middle of a big storm!  It certainly is for me.

10/5/2012

  Late last night (here at least) little Samson was born.  What a beautiful little boy!  7lbs and 4 oz.  One of the great joys in our life is the happiness Joe and Hannah have found. And now to have a little boy to add to their family is an amazing blessing.

  We have studied and shopped and have walked in the rain to the Bon ice cream and yogurt shop today.  It is dark here by 7:00 pm so we aren't supposed to be out walking in the streets. Of course that doesn't bother Scott though. The sidewalk to the Bon shop is covered with vendors selling all kinds of things to eat and jewelry galore.   Hot dogs on a stick were interesting. They must sell well because he had about forty on his grill cooking and already cooked.  There is a college that's walkway into and out of the school is part of that sidewalk so they must have alot of hungry college students.  The Bon shop was filled with college kids.
  We are anxious for conference tomorrow.  On lds.org it lists about five different Internet sites that you can get the broadcast live at.  We cancelled our lessons for Saturday and Sunday so that is kind of nice.  I have always thought that if we were to keep the Sabbath day holy we should have the meetings on television - thus eliminating the frustration of being ready to murder the kids by the time you get them ready, in the car for church, and drive to the church.  I can look back now with fondness at many of those memories but at the time they weren't so great. I still don't know how shoes and socks can magically disappear on Sunday mornings.
  

10/4/2012 Samson's birth day!

   Joe and Hannah are going to have their baby today!  We are so excited. What a precious gift a new baby is.  They bring so much love into a home.  So every lesson we have had today has been accompanied by our laptop so we could keep up on what is going on at home.
   We had music lessons with the returned missionaries from the CCM.  They are such fun kids.  Of the three guys one really wants to find someone and get married - he says the other two know the commandment to move on with their lives includes marriage but they just don't care.  They tease each other unmercifully.  They know one of my favorite hymns is" Peace, Be Still" so they prepared and sang it for us today.  It was beautiful!  It is hard to think these people will pass through our lives and we will never see them again. 
  Much of our Spanish lesson was talking to the new couple from Layton, the Schmidts, who are the mission office couple for the West Mission.  I give thanks every day that we are not just arriving here.  Elder Schmidt could absolutely not believe how people drive here.  And here we thought it was getting so much better!  He must not like dodge'm cars at Lagoon then. 
   We left the temple and pulled up to the stop sign right by a guy on a motorcycle.  As we sat at the red light we noticed a gun sticking out of his pocket.  He quickly covered it with his shirt but made us wonder just what he was up to.  No one carries guns here but the police that we have noticed. Guess that isn't true because a guy was shot right on the street ourside our apartment.  And yet there are often people killed by guys riding by on motorcycles.  At the present time it seems to be the lawyers they have grudges against and drug related stuff.

     Thought I'd put on this picture of a grapefruit here.  They are about three times as big as they are at home and have a rind that is at least 1/2" thick.  You peel off the rind then have to peel off the thick skin covering each piece.  Each piece has 10+ seed in the center.
    

    

10/3/2012

   For the third time this month the power company has come to shut off our power because the bill has not been paid.  The church automatically pays it over the internet on the second week of the month.  They don't seem to be able to keep records of who has paid electronically.  So our friends downstairs called again to say they were here to shut off our power - again because the bill had not been paid.  We called the mission office where they take care of that and they had an electronic confirmation that it had been paid long ago but that doesn't seem to matter to them.  When Scott went back down they told him if he would pay the $40 they would leave the power on for one more day..  He got the money to pay them because we need power to do our work here.  However, one of the bosses and a friend of Scott's said "Don't even think of paying them - they are just trying to get money from you".  So Scott gave them the number they could call to see if the bill was paid.  They couldn't seem to get through to anyone who could give them the information - who knows if they really tried.  Scott came back upstairs thinking they would turn the power back on but instead they  drove back in and flipped the switch off again.  So we had no power!  This has happened so many times we want the church to let us take the money in and get a written receipt but I don't know if they can do that. 
    So we spent a hot, sleepless night.  Finally around noon all of freezer food was beginning to thaw so we took our music extension cords upstairs and asked the neighbor if we could borrow some power to cool things back down in the fridge.  So they dangled a cord from the window above us and we brought it in the window and with several other extension cords got the fridge plugged in.  They let us keep it plugged in until Elder Pershon had gone to the power office and told them what had happened and turned our power back on around 2:00.  It is amazing how many things we take for granted at home!
    We went to the temple last night then were invited to the Eickbushes for supper.  It was after 8:00 when we got there but she had a really nice meal all ready.  We discussed how the "outside" world of Mormons feel about "Utah Mormons".  I have heard uncomplimentary things about Utah Mormons for years.  They said they were determined never to move to Utah because they didn't want to put up with the Utah Mormons.  I don't know about you  but that is insulting to me.  The very best people I know are Utah Mormons who do not exclude others, or think they are better than everyone else, and actually try to live their religion.  They did end up in Utah and had great experiences so now have different feelings.  We told them about our ward and stake and how wonderful the people are.  We think we have a unique and special ward and are so grateful for the people there!