Monday, December 23, 2013

Our Temple Workers Christmas Party

We had our Temple Christmas party on Monday, December 16 which is the only day the temple is closed besides Sunday.  Some ordinance workers could make it and some had jobs to go to and other responsibilities.  We began by having a temple session for the workers and we were to arrive by 9:30 a.m. After the session, the next thing on the agenda was to have an official photo of the temple workers.  The ladies were to wear a white blouse and a dark skirt and Paul said the men didn’t say a word about what to wear and most wore jackets and some didn’t but all had on a white shirt and tie.  The ladies were given a red and green ribbon corsage to wear.  It was a beautiful day with blue skies that arrived after several days of clouds and rain.  We were totally surprised at how well the picture turned out when we got it a few days later—the man with the camera didn’t have a tripod and just stood there and took the picture.  Of course during the photo shoot someone said “cheese” out loud in English and they all laughed and we all said a good old American “cheese” together for our official photo. Like most special occasions anywhere--about half those invited came to the party—keep in mind we really have about 85 temple workers.  

Here is a photo of a photo of the official Tampico Temple Ordinance Workers.

Back row:  Hermano Martinez; Ping; Day; Ortega; Dellez; Crockett Briones; Soriano; Silva; Pecina;Fuentes; Zaleta; Seguro. Middle row:  Hermana Rangel; Sanches; Day; Rodrigues; ;Rodriques; Vergara; Crockett; Briones; Soriano; Aguilar; Gonzales; Papadatos; Zaleta; Bonillo; Gonzales. Front row:  Hermana Nava; Nava; Salazar; Saldivar; Ruiz 


We then walked to the Stake Center next door for a program and it was a very nice program with a narrator reading the scriptures concerning the Savior’s birth from the pulpit—and of course, it was all in Spanish.  When the music director stood up, we followed the prompts and sang the photocopied Christmas songs about Christ’s birth.  President Soriano, our temple president, said a few words to remind us that Christ was born in April but we need to take advantage of this time of year when people come together to remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The is the Tampico Temple Presidency the 2nd Counselor will arrive next month from Mexico City.  Pictured are
Hermano Miguel and Hermana Sariah Briones--he is the counselor
Presidente Juan and Hermana Christinia Soriano
We went to the Cultural Hall to eat—we were each to bring a dish of food to share.  The sisters were in the kitchen getting their food ready.  Tables and chairs were set up and it looked and felt like any special gathering.  That’s about when Bro. Day came up to Sherryl and said “You have 7 kids so you probably know how to organize people.  Get these ladies organized, they don’t know what they are doing!”  Taking the challenge in hand, she had the guys bring tables together and designated the areas and told people where to put the main dishes and desserts and drinks.  These humble people are very good at following directions!  We didn’t know what to expect for our first potluck dinner.  The food we can remember were three different kinds of meatloaf; spaghetti with a green sauce; several meat and sauce dishes; a big bowl of mashed potatoes; sliced local bread; a bowl of radishes; cups of cubed jello in whipped cream. Just for the record, might we point out that for this official Mexican meal, there were NO beans and NO rice and NO tortillas and NO hot sauce! Brother and Sister Day brought fudge bars made from their precious Nestles Chocolate Chips that they brought from the states. Someone had brought an ice cream cake made at the local Dairy Queen plus they had some small cookies covered with powdered sugar. So what did we bring?  We introduced many people to Paul’s wonderful Rice Krispie Treats.  Those brave enough to try this strange food that we brought really enjoyed them.  Only they shook their heads and asked if it was very cara [expensive] to prepare.  Maybe we were aware of the prices when we went to the store but we wanted to share so we bought what we needed. Out of curiosity, we just calculated the price of our treat to see just how cara it is:  Rice Krispies, 46.50; marshmallows, 24.90; coconut, 22.80; M&M’s 49.80 and butter 14.40 which is a total of 158.40 pesos or about $12.35.   So it cost us more than what we would pay in the states and a whole lot more than what they would spend here for a dessert.  Of course we will now have to check out the price of that ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!  Drinks for the meal were many fruit flavors of soda in 3 liter bottles and bottled water.  We enjoyed the meal and our time together. 
Hermanas Day, Briones and Crockett
Hermanas Day and Briones


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