This and That for May

We have good neighbors and they probably have parties once a month but they keep the music at a good volume and turn it off by 10 p.m.  These neighbors seem to have family and friends parties with kids and we don't mind at all.

This boy greets us with "vecino!" and we don't know his name and he is a bit hard to understand.  Today he asked us to check if their blue ball was in our yard but we didn't see it.  We actually think that we returned it a few days ago.

We received Tyler's letter of instruction and Flat Stanley on May 5 and he received our letter and photos as well about April 29,  The mail service from the USA to Mexico and from Mexico to USA takes about the same amount of time.  That makes sense but what doesn't make sense is that it took about 4 weeks each way using airmail.

Something was eating our bananas and we thought it was a bird.  We heard some chirping outside the window and were surprised to see something else snacking on our bananas.  Can you see what it was?

We walk to Bancomer each month to deposit our rent into the landlord's account.  We were surprised two months ago because the front of the building was gone but they have now replaced it and are continuing with the remodeling.  Here are the "before" and "after" shots of the bank front.

Hna. Ninel Silva, a young temple ordinance worker, in front of the terraced gardens in front of the temple.  She loves to practice her English with us.

This lovely flower on a prickly vine guards our water pump.

Here is the "little laptop" that Mireya loaned to us.   We can now use the full sized keyboard and a large monitor.  This little guy works well and keeps us from the need to share a computer.

Celebrating the Tampico Temple Dedication

The Tampico Temple was dedicated on May 20, 2000 by President Thomas S. Monson.  We met together as temple ordinance workers on May 18, 2015 in the temple to participate together in a temple session.  We had 35 sisters and 15 men attend the session and only ordinance workers were invited.  Pte. Saldivar was asked to officiate in honor of his being the first Tampico Temple president. Afterwards, we went to the adjacent stake center's cultural hall to eat and visit.  Spouses were invited to the dinner and there was seating for 80 people but not all of the chairs were occupied--which means we didn't count how many were there.

Pedro Gonzales entertained us with a temple version of the "mañanitas" and we all sang with him plus he told stories and played the guitar.

We sat at this table and chatted with:  Hno. and Hna. Martinez; Hermana Reynoso

Hermanas Galvan, Truncoso; Arnano; Silva

We were among the first to leave at around 2 p.m. and could see others were going to stay for more entertainment.

Temple Grounds Tour

It is really quite pleasant to walk into the temple grounds each day and to see the flowering and colorful shrubs.    Looking at the temple from the south.

We've entered the temple gates.

The stairs lead to the front door on the west side of the temple

Front garden but looking south.

In front of the temple continuing north.

Turning right and looking east at the northwest corner.

Looking back to the south from the northwest corner.

At the northeast corner looking south.

 This is the back or east side of the temple

Gardens in the northeast corner of the temple lot.

More gardens and flowers on the east or back side.

Looking south from the northeast section.

Looking south and nearer to the east side of the temple.

 This is the south side looking west.

Expanded view of south side looking west.

Looking back east from the southwest corner of the temple.

 Walking out the front door of the temple looking west.

So we have made a picture tour of our walk around the temple. 

Ruben's Rice Bag

When Hno. Saldivar told us that Ruben Sacramento loved to sit in his hot car because it made his back feel so much better, we thought of ways that we might help him.  We decided to make a rice bag that he could warm in a microwave and put on his back.  Keeping in mind that Ruben is 87 years old, we designed it in such a way that we thought would be useful to Ruben.  We shopped for the hand towels and went to another store of matching thread.  We borrowed the temple's sewing machine and went to work to create what we thought would be a functioning gift to help Ruben.

We were pleased with our work and rather excited to take it to Ruben so he could try it out.  After we explained the bag to him and how it works, he tried it on and could work the straps ok.  He appreciated our thoughtfulness.  When we asked if we could heat it up in his microwave so he could actually feel the warmth, he simply said that they don't have a microwave and he wasn't sure why they would have one or how microwaves work.

We would be happy to buy a microwave for Ruben but we aren't sure if he would feel that it is useful.  He already struggles to pay his electricity bill from his pension money and instead of helping, we might unintentionally add to his financial burden.  Sometimes we forget how simply others live.